Morals
by WonderWalrus
Summary: When a mission takes a turn for the worse, Wally is captured by Shadows and held captive in a secret base. Alone and afraid, he finds himself talking to the only person who will listen: the blonde archer guarding him who refuses to give her name. 100% spitfire.
1. Blackout

**My first fanfic. I don't own YJ or any of its characters etc etc. Here goes nothing-**

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It had been a bad mission from the start. The team: Kaldur, M'gann, Rob, Conner and Wally had been sent to a warehouse in Gotham with next to no information; all they knew was that something was going down, and Shadows were involved. Looking back, Wally realised that the lack of intel was the first sign that something was wrong.

The second sign came when they entered the building- it was completely devoid of life. Conner could see no heat signatures with his infrared vision, neither could Wally through his goggles. They were about to split up and search for clues when the team received their final sign, a subtle beeping noise coming from a stack of crates.

Then the air erupted around them, and Wally opened ash-stung eyes to a much smokier warehouse, his ears ringing, his teammates lying on the ground around him.

 _Bomb_ , his shellshocked mind told him, trying to piece together what had happened.

 _Bomb-_

Movement in the darkness, and then the ringing silence was shattered by the staccato bark of gunfire, coming from every direction. His friends found their feet, a telepathic field established before Kaldur's voice sounded in Wally's ear:

 _Do what we do best._

He was sprinting through a field of bullets in a heartbeat, taking down armed men like they were made of paper. Wally caught a glimpse of Kaldur and Conner in the centre of the warehouse, also fending off the swarms of mercenaries. A large crate flew, seemingly of its own accord, into a group of them- Evidence of M'gann's telekinesis, although she was nowhere to be seen. Similarly, Robin had disappeared into the shadows, and Wally was too preoccupied looking for him to see the wall ahead, rapidly getting closer.

He ran headlong into it, ricocheting back off the concrete and hitting the floor, where he lay, momentarily stunned, until something else approached at an impossible velocity and Wally quickly rolled out of the way and to his feet. A javelin shivered where he had lain just a moment earlier, and he glanced up to see a familiar figure standing metres away, wearing a hockey mask.

"Sportsmaster." He growled, ducking to the left to avoid another metal projectile.

"I see the Justice League is still making kids do their dirty work." Sportsmaster replied, taking out a hunting knife and holding it in front of him, feet apart in a fighting position.

"If dirty work means taking out the trash, then sure." Quipped Wally, grinning. Then, before the masked villain could strike, he started to run round him in a tight circle, Sportsmaster swiping at the blur with his knife, but only meeting air. "Extra credit for guessing who the trash is."

He winced as the knife blade missed him by a millimetre.

 _Little help over here?_

Wally directed his thoughts to the rest of the team. His attention was caught by Kaldur, who replied:

 _I'm coming-_

He was cut off by a ripping, tearing, burning in his head, and was joined by the silent screams of the others before the telepathic connection broke. Wally gasped, catching a glimpse of M'gann, no longer invisible, falling through the air. Conner jumped, catching her midair, but her leg was covered in slick, scarlet liquid, and the shared pain of the wound combined with the mental shock was enough to make the speedster trip and fall.

Wally lost himself in a whirl of concrete floor and warehouse ceiling, before rolling to a stop. When he picked himself up, badly grazed and bloody, something awoke in his shoulder and he clamped a hand over the source: a deep gash just above his collarbone. Halfway across the warehouse floor, Sportsmaster held up a knife, stained with his blood. He gritted his teeth and was about to charge full on at the masked man, but a shout from Kaldur stopped him.

"I'll take Sportsmaster, you find a way out."

Right. Exit. Seeing an unguarded doorway, Wally shot through it, racing down a narrow corridor at half his usual speed; the hand on his shoulder slowing him considerably. He took a sharp left, then a right, and caught a glimpse of movement at the end of the corridor, the glint of wire before the speedster's legs were taken out from under him. For the fourth time in as many minutes, Wally found himself lying on the ground, face down. He groaned and rolled over, freezing when a sai was pushed into his jugular.

"Let's not do anything stupid, now." Purred the figure crouching over him, and through her cat mask Wally swore she was grinning.

"That's funny, 'cause stupid-" started Wally, swinging a fist at super speed towards his opponent's head- "happens to be my forte." His fist connected, and Cheshire dropped the sai as her head whipped back. He jumped up and tried to follow his punch with a kick, but it was easily blocked by the assassin, who countered with a barrage of her own flying fists. Wally managed to block and duck most of the strikes, but he was being backed towards wall and it was clear that Cheshire was the stronger opponent, his shoulder injury making things all the worse for him. He had to try something else.

Thinking quickly, the speedster feinted left, then bolted right, watching As Cheshire turned her back on him, searching for where he had gone. In an instant he was charging toward her, tackling the assassin to the ground and pinning her there.

"I thought cats always landed on their feet." Wally smirked, drawing back a fist, ready to punch until she stopped moving. Cheshire growled, taking advantage of her free hand and grabbing the material at Wally's neck, using it to pull him down, flipping the pair of them over so she was straddling him.

"Too bad you don't have nine lives." She hissed, taking a handful of his hair then snapping his head back against the concrete floor with avenging force.

Once, twice- three times.

There was a sense of finality when she let go.

Four.

Darkness claimed the speedster, and he fell limp.

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 **Please rate & review- it'll help me write the next chapter faster!**


	2. Conscious

**Thanks for all the positive support and comments! Here is chapter two, as promised:**

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Wally wasn't sure if it was the pain that woke him, or if his resurface to consciousness awoke the pain for him. Either way, it hurt.

He groaned and tried to sit up, eyes scrunched closed against bright lighting. There was a throbbing in the back of his head, like some unholy cross between a jackhammer and a flamethrower had been implanted into his skull. Tentatively, he reached for the source of the pain, his hand finding- hair. His cowl had been pulled back, no longer covering his face. His hand trailed down, hitting metal: a cold band around his neck, an inhibitor collar. A wave of choking, crippling dread washed over him, his shattered mind trying to piece together what had happened. Concrete. A purring, mocking voice. Searing pain in his shoulder. Sportsmaster. M'gann's leg, bleeding. An explosion.

The wave of dread was followed by a sea of confusion, questions swimming around his head- were the others okay? Had they been caught too? Did the Shadows know who he was? How long had he been unconscious? Where was he?

Wally then realised his last question could be answered surprisingly easily.

 _Open your eyes, stupid._ He thought, then rather wished he hadn't.

He was sitting on a soiled mattress in the corner of a drab, grey room. A cell. Wally took a moment to admire the decor. Concrete walls. Concrete floor. My, was that plaster? No, safe choice with a concrete ceiling too. Lovely complementary stains on the walls, he especially liked the ambiguity in the brown ones. Was it blood or spilled coffee? Brain fluid or just a damp patch? Urine- the smell really going in favour of this option- or a non native, rare kind of mould? One could only dream.

It was little touches like those that really made a cell more homely. And what a nice, ambient atmosphere, brought to life so well by the fluorescent strip lights on the ceiling- oh, and how quaint: they even flickered. A heavy metal door, simple, yet refined, the composition of the room balanced by bare pipes running along the walls. An original feature, you say? The rust encasing those pipes sure seemed to think so.

Overall, Wally would describe the room, in full realtor fashion, as "a rustic recluse, charming with lots of character, yet in need of some slight refurbishment."

He had nearly finished his examination of the room, eyes almost fully adjusted to the light, when movement in the far corner of the cell caught his eye. A girl, around his age, staring right back at him.

"You're awake." She said shortly, her eyes narrowing.

"...yeah."

 _Really outdoing yourself here, Wall-man,_ Wally thought to himself.

 _Am I awake? Yeah, I guess so. Maybe I'll just answer everything with yeah. How are you? Yeah. What's your name? Yeah. Wanna get blown up, stabbed and knocked unconscious? Yeah, why not? Sounds like a party._

The girl stared at him for a moment longer, then went back to what she had been doing before: picking an arrow from a stack to her left, and carefully filing the edge. After several minutes with only the sound of metal eating metal to break the silence, she held the arrow up to the light, the sharp edge a hair's width from her eye, then placed it carefully in a quiver on her right. Then she repeated the actions, arrow after arrow.

What was she doing here?

Her appearance gave away few clues: a mane of blonde hair tied in a ponytail, olive skin and, judging by her clothes, an apparent preference for green. A fellow cellmate wouldn't explain the arrows- or the compound bow on the wall beside her, but she didn't look much like standard Shadow stock.

Wally thought he'd better ask.

"So, blonde... What are you in here for?"

The girl stopped sharpening her current arrow and held it up, inspecting it, before looking past the green fletching to the speedster.

"I was assigned here to make sure you didn't cause any trouble."

Wally blinked. Shadow, then.

"That means you're, like, guarding me, huh?"  
"I prefer the term babysitting."  
Annoyance flared in Wally like a forest fire. He was standing, storming over in an instant-  
"That is so not what I am, you-"  
He had almost reached the girl when his left foot was stopped, pulled out from under him, and he hit the floor with a thud, her boots beside his fingers. Wally looked up, the girl was standing now, an arrow drawn back in her bow and aimed right between his eyes.

"Back off. **Now**." She growled, teeth gritted.  
Sheepishly, Wally obeyed, finding the cause of his fall as he retreated back to the mattress: a chain set into the wall, attached to a shackle on his ankle.  
 _This day just keeps getting better,_ he thought sourly. At least there was someone who could answer his questions, although chances were, archer girl was too angry to humour him.  
"Uh, what's your name?" Wally asked, opting for small talk. The girl had resumed her arrow sharpening, and she simply answered with a shrug. A no-go then.  
"I guess... You know my name, right?" This time, the blonde girl looked up from her arrows and locked eyes with his.  
"West." She said, confirming with a single nod. Wally's heart flopped- they knew who he was, his parents were probably in danger-  
"You're not... You won't hurt my family, right?"  
Archer girl had gone back to filing and didn't look up when she answered.  
"Not up to me." The tension in the pause that followed prompted an elaboration on her part. "So long as you do what they say, there should be no reason for them to attack relatives."  
It would have to do, and Wally only hoped it wouldn't come to that. The League would find him before, the League would rescue him- and the team, had they been captured as well?

"Did you... You and the Shadows, did you catch the others too?"  
He waited, breath baited, for a reply.  
"I can't tell you."  
"Are any of them hurt- are they okay?"  
"I can't tell you."  
"You don't know or you aren't allowed to say?"  
"I can't tell you."  
"How long was I unconscious for?"  
"I can't tell you."  
"Where am I?"  
"I can't tell you."  
"Who's in charge of all this?"  
"I can't tell you."  
"What are you going to do to me?"  
"...I can't tell you."

Wally hissed, with impatience and annoyance, but also- and he hated to admit it- fear. Archer girl continued to work on her arrows, methodically sharpening each to a gleaming metal point, seemingly unaware of his pent up state. After a minute, he had calmed a little, and became aware of a stinging sensation in his shoulder, where Sportsmaster had sliced him with that knife. He reached over to touch it, expecting to feel bare skin and the crust of scabbed flesh, but his hand meeting something soft instead.  
Confused, Wally turned to look at his shoulder, pulling away the ripped edges of his costume to see neat layers of bandage covering his injury. He frowned.  
"Did you do this?" He asked, and archer girl glanced up at him, her eyes flicking from his shoulder to his face. She nodded.

"Oh." It was all Wally could say. Any words he would have used slipped back down his throat; this wasn't what Shadows did. Shadows were villains, they didn't patch up their injured victims, they kicked them to the ground and left them to bleed. They didn't look after unconscious prisoners, tend their wounds while they were helpless, weak. There was just one thing he could possibly say, something he doubted any hero had said to a villain, much less a Shadow:

"Thanks."  
Archer girl stared at him, blinked twice, then moved her concentration back to the arrows, and Wally swore her filing was twice as fast as it had been before.

About half an hour had passed in wordless silence before nature began to call to Wally. He fidgeted on the mattress, there wasn't a toilet in the cell, would they expect him to just... go? Another minute passed before he worked up the courage to ask archer girl.  
"Uh, is there a toilet, somewhere, I can use... maybe?  
As was her way, the blonde girl did not reply. She did, however, put down the arrow she was working on, stand, and walk over to him.

"You kick me and I'll break your leg." She stated, then crouched and unlocked the shackle on his ankle. Wise as he was, Wally did not kick her, rather let her open the steel door and lead him through, a hand vicelike on his uninjured shoulder. They walked a short distance down a narrow corridor- similarly decorated to the cell, he was pleased to report- until they came to another steel door, set in the wall on the right. The girl pushed him inside.

"Two minutes." He was told, and then the door closed and he was alone. The bathroom was functional at best- two small cubicles, two sinks and a broken hand dryer. After relieving himself, Wally caught his reflection in the grimy mirror as he washed his hands.

It didn't look like him. The Wally that stared back at him had wild, unkempt hair and a hollowness under his cheekbones, a swathe of dark purple under each eye- ironic, to think he could have been sleeping for days. But his reflection most certainly wasn't healthy, and as his stomach grumbled, Wally realised he hadn't eaten for as long as he'd been unconscious. He was low on fuel, but this might be his only chance to escape.

A sharp knock on the door snapped Wally out of his thoughts and into the real world.  
"Ten seconds, or I'm coming in there." Warned the voice from outside. It was now of never.  
Frantically, Wally scanned the bathroom for anything he could use as a weapon. Taps, doors, basins, dryer- everything was a fixture. Five seconds. There was nothing, but he still had a chance. Wally ducked behind the door just as it burst open, archer girl storming in. She had a split second to register his presence before his fist connected with her jaw, followed by a swift uppercut that forced her a step backwards.

It was enough, and Wally bolted out the door, turned right down the corridor and ran as fast as his feet could carry him. Granted, he was far slower with the collar blocking his powers, but Wally considered himself a fast runner anyway, he definitely didn't see the girl having a chance of catching up. He didn't, until his vision went white and his brain ceased to function. The speedster crashed to the ground, crying out in pain as the inhibitor collar shocked him repeatedly, making his limbs twitch as he lay face down on the ground.  
A gap in the electric shocks allowed him to get onto all fours, about to stand when a booted foot swept under him, striking his solar plexus and flipping Wally onto his back, where he gasped like a fish out of water. Archer girl stood over him, a black remote in one hand, the other hand a fist. A trickle of blood ran from her mouth, she wiped it away with the back of her hand. Wally tried again to get up, but the collar delivered another electric charge. He hit the ground again, his limbs weak, but he wouldn't give up.

A third time, Wally managed to struggle to his knees before the electricity ran through him again, locking his limbs and sending him back to the floor.

He was barely conscious as the girl pulled him off the ground and hooked her arms under his. She dragged him back to the cell, put his limp body down on the mattress and locked the shackle around his ankle again.

Then she stood up, walked back to the stool, picked up an arrow and began to sharpen it.

Wally awoke some time later, the stomach ache having turned into a cavernous pit beneath his lungs. He sat up, finding a bowl of some sort of porridge, a bottle of water and an apple. It wasn't the takeaway meal he had been craving, or the buffet style lunch he had undoubtedly been dreaming of, but it would do, and Wally fell upon the food like it was the last he'd ever see.  
Maybe it was.

After scraping the bowl clean and devouring the entire apple, stalk and all, the speedster's eyes focused on the girl in the corner. She was down to sharpening the last four arrows and had paid him little attention while he had been eating. Wally leant back against the wall- _ouch-_ his ribs punishing him for the movement. Archer girl had kicked him hard. Really hard, and Wally thought about the contradictions in her actions. Why would she bandage his wounds and feed him, then use the collar's remote to fry his brains?

 _Well_ **,** countered what may or may not have been Wally's conscience. _You did punch her in the face. Twice. And then you ran away._

It sounded awful, but it was a fair point. The redhead looked back at the girl in the corner and he saw the blue-purple shadow of a waking bruise, the skin swollen tight over her jawline. He had done that, to a girl probably no older than him. Thoughts swirled around his head, tiny strings connecting his feelings but leaving him tangled amongst them.

 _It's not like she's the first- I've fought other kids before: the Terror Twins, Icicle Junior- but they've never been so... morally ambiguous. Also, they were trying to kill me, but that's not the point. She looked after me, maybe not in the most sensitive, caring way, but she helped me and I hit her._ All of a sudden Wally felt guilt where his heart should have been.

"Is there something I should know?"

The voice cut through the strings in Wally's mind and he jumped, his eyes flicking up to the archer girl. She was staring at him with the strangest expression.

"Uh... What?" He asked, confused.

"You were muttering to yourself." The blonde explained. Wally felt his face go just a tiny bit pink. "Anything you'd like to share?"

"No, no, it was nothing... Just, uh, daydreaming."

Archer girl raised an eyebrow, but did not pursue the matter. She went back to sharpening her last arrow.

"Well, actually-" Wally started, and she glanced back up again. He licked his lips. "About... Uh, about before... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hit you."

Then, bowing his head, Wally broke eye contact, the words lingering in his mouth, bittersweet. He began to fidget with the rips in his costume when he felt the heat of the blonde's glare on the back of his neck. But a minute later when he finally looked back up, she had gone back to sharpening the arrow. Another minute of silence as archer girl inspected the final arrow, placed it in her quiver and shouldered both it and the bow. Wally shrank away slightly when she approached him, but it was only to pick up the empty bowl and water bottle, before she went to leave. The girl paused in the doorway, then turned and said:

"Your friends- they're okay. They managed to escape, you were the only one that got caught."

Wally's relief was an enormous drain, letting the oceans of bottled up guilt and worry seep away until only drops were left. He opened his mouth to thank her, but she had gone, the last words of farewell slipping through the door before it closed-

"Get some sleep."

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Please review- it really helps me write faster :)


	3. Shock

**Chapter three is here! Thanks for all the lovely messages!**

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Days passed. Or at least, they felt like days: periods of sleep and rest and endlessly pacing his cell, punctuated by three of what only the most generous person would call a meal. To Wally, it wasn't even a snack, and the distinct change in diet was causing his stomach to complain, he felt weaker every passing hour. In an attempt to take his mind off the gnawing hunger, he turned to his last resort: small talk.

As the archer girl was the only one present in the room and did not seem to enjoy communicating, the resultant conversations were quite heavily one-sided.

For example, the day before, Wally had talked to the blonde while she adjusted the fletching and binding on her arrows.

"So... What's your favourite colour?"

Silence.

"I'm guessing green. You like green, right? You're always wearing green."

No answer.

"Me, I like red. Like the red on my suit- wait, watch this- look, it changes colour. Black. Colour. Black. Colour. Back to black. Cool, huh?"

He received a shrug, but little else.

"Does your outfit do that? I guess not, unless you wanted to blend in with your pals. Do you know Cheshire? I think you'd be great pals with Cheshire, y'know, you're both the kick-'em-while-they're-down type, to me at least. What about Sporty, your bow is totally-"

Wally shivered. If archer girl kept looking at him like that, he was going to get frostbite.

However unnerved he was, however, by the glares and silent death threats, it didn't stop Wally from talking. Everyone on the team knew that when the speedster wasn't eating, he was talking, and he sure hadn't done much eating recently.

"Can you shoot that thing? Speedy- I mean, Red Arrow is really good with a bow."

"I like your boots, they're pretty cool boots. Like, badass kicking boots."

"What's your favourite ice cream flavour? I like Ben and Jerry's- the cookie dough is so good."

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"Do you know what the time is? Not that it matters, it just feels like lunchtime."

"See, you act all tough on the outside, but I bet you're a big softie- like Batman, but not as tall."

"Would it annoy you if I sang? Do you want to sing? We could do a duet..."

"Are you a vegetarian?"

The constant stream of what was quite literally verbal diarrhoea began to wear down archer girl. She was good at hiding it- a clenched jaw here, a twitch in the eye or the hand there- but her impatience grew, and eventually she exploded.

"WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT UP? I swear, if you say one more word, I'll go out, find some duct tape, and..."

The girl left the threat hanging, and if Wally was honest, he felt a little turbed to see her so furious. And a little bit triumphant. He hadn't heard from the Justice League- at least, his questions had been ignored by hers truly, and the speedster was starting to feel a little abandoned. Quite a lot abandoned, actually. More frequent than he would have liked, a malignant, depressive thought pricked him:

 _They've forgotten about you~ Nobody's coming to save you, not this time~ They're better off without you..._

But seeing the girl get so angry with him made Wally feel just a little bit better. He had it together, he could still do something, no matter how small or insignificant. He had _purpose_.

And then he remembered the bandage on his shoulder and how she had told him his friends were okay and he felt worse than before.

Wally sighed. He just had to say it.

"It was kind of you to- I just wanted to- thanks for telling me my friends were okay... It helped. A lot." The blonde nodded once, but did not speak. "That was really kind."

Wally waited for her eyes to meet his, and held her gaze. Archer girl bit her lip.

"I felt sorry for you, Kid Idiot, and I'm not making that mistake again." Her mouth twisted wryly while Wally's opened with outrage.

"That is _so_ not what I'm called!"

"Would you like me to use your real name, because that's no better." It was the first time Wally had seen archer girl look remotely pleased, and he hated it. "What kind of an alias is 'Kid Flash' anyway?"

"It's a great name-"

"It definitely isn't, and you're losing points on originality too. You don't see 'Kid Bat' and 'Kid Arrow' running around, do you?" She countered.

"No, but-"

"They have proper names! Granted, 'Speedy' is kind of confusing, but at least-"

"It's not Speedy anymore, it's Red Arrow."

Artemis frowned.

"Well then, his name is just as bad as yours."

"Hang on a minute, your evil villain buddies' names aren't any better." Wally argued. "Take Queen Bee- she's got nothing to do with bees, she doesn't have some weird fixation with insects-"

"It's figurative!" Cried archer girl, but Wally ploughed through her words with his own.

"The Brain: absolutely no creativity there. He could have had Synapse, Grey Matter, Impulse-"

"Those all suck, and you know it."

"... And don't get me started on Sportsmaster."

"I'll let you have that; it's a pretty poor name."

Wally chewed on the inside of his mouth, thinking of some way to argue back.

"Hey, you never told me your name, y'know, your evil villain name."

"Uhhh, yeah." Archer girl hesitated. "Um, I'm still spitballing."

The speedster straightened up. "Need any help?"

"From Kid Dork, no thanks." She scoffed. "It's you that needs naming assistance."

"You harpy-" He started.

"Creep-"

"Freak-"

"Bastard-"

"Bitch."

Archer girl did not retaliate, and Wally cringed at the insult he left wavering in the air. He didn't dare to breathe, expecting the worst. Eventually she spoke.

"Yeah, I don't think any of those are usable."

The fight had gone from archer girl's tone, the right side of her mouth was pulled up into a half-smile. Wally soon realised he was making the same face, but it was too late to wipe it off so he just sat there, grinning like an idiot, and although the sense of foreboding tainted the feeling, it was the first time he felt genuinely... Okay.

"I have a question."

"...yeah?"

"Are you serious about the duct tape?"

"Deadly serious."

And so they sat in relatively amicable silence until the steel door burst open. Wally stood, his hopes flying into the stratosphere before they came back down at his top speed. Not the Justice League. Instead, four armed idiots barged their way in, much to the dismay of archer girl, who promptly stood and began to argue.

"What's going on?"

"We have orders to take this one to the questioning room." Droned one of the men.

 _Questioning room?_ Wally thought. _Sounds like fun. However, I prefer my fun pain-free and U rated, so I'll have to RSVP a no._

The blonde seemed to have the same idea.

"Orders from who?" She asked, jutting her chin up at a guy who was a good six inches taller than her, and also holding a semi automatic.

"The boss." Was the only answer, and when the girl tried to argue she was shoved backwards into a wall. Wally started forward, shouting.

"Hey, you're hurting her!" He was about to push the offending goon away, but was stopped by both the chain around his ankle, then the butt of a gun to his stomach. With a groan, he doubled over. In the background archer girl was shouting, hissing, but Wally's vision was blurred when his ankle was released, only to have handcuffs wrapped around his wrists. He struggled as they pushed him out the door, but he was tired and weak and received a jab to the -still very tender- back of the head. Although he couldn't see her, archer girl was following, her seething words barely audible.

"Hired muscle... No thoughts, no sense... Inadequately trained..."

Wally was led down through a maze of corridors, until they reached another steel door and Wally was pushed inside, along with two of the armed idiots and archer girl.

"Well, what a pleasant surprise." The voice came from a man at the end of the room, a hockey mask on his face. Sportsmaster. Wally managed to scrape up the remnants of his courage.

"Really? You totally told these guys to bring me here, so obviously you're not surprised to-"

"Shut up, kid, I wasn't talking to you." Sportsmaster's gaze shifted to his right, where archer girl was now standing.

"You said you wouldn't." She hissed. "Not until the League got in touch."

"Well the league hasn't made any effort to contact us." Sportsmaster replied. Wally panicked, _surely they would have tried to negotiate- "_ And you really shouldn't try to undermine me." He took archer girl's chin in his hand and she stiffened, barely masking a grimace. "-Not after the fiasco of an assignment you caused."

His grip on her began to tighten, until she shook him off.

"That wasn't my fault-" _smack._

The girl staggered, the older man's backhand leaving an angry red print on her cheek. To her credit, she didn't make a sound, and when Sportsmaster spoke, his voice was dangerously low.

"Now, when I tell you that I don't want to look at your ungrateful face for a week, I mean it. And when I take a prisoner in for questioning, I don't want an argument. Are we clear, baby girl?"

 _What did he just call her?_ The speedster tried to make sense of what Sportsmaster said as he watched archer girl square her shoulders, clench her jaw, and reply:

"Crystal."

"Perfect. Just as well you came, I wanted the remote for the collar." Wally's stomach hit the floor. _This couldn't be good._

The girl dug in her pocket for a second, then almost reluctantly, she held out the little black box. Sportsmaster took it.

"Thank you, baby girl." He drawled, lingering on the last two words and watching as Wally flicked his gaze between the two of them, archer girl's head hanging. "You can go."

The speedster was surprised to feel a little more alone when the door clanged shut, but he steeled himself. He refused to be afraid, his friends were coming, at any moment they would charge in and it would be over, he'd go home and eat ice cream and watch TV and save the world and everything would be back to normal.

 _Baby girl..._

"I've got a few questions for you, kid." Sportsmaster called.

"If it's a quiz on current events, I'm afraid I'll be useless." Wally quipped. "I've been a little... reclusive, the last few days. Not my fault though-"

He was cut off as an all too familiar feeling snatched the words from his lips and stuffed them back down his throat, crackling needles of electricity pricking him everywhere. The speedster fell to his knees, shaking.

"Cut the snark and I might not do that again." Sportsmaster began to walk the room, making a slow, lazy circle around Wally. The armed men watched on as the speedster struggled to his feet, his hands still cuffed behind his back.

"Bring it." He muttered. Again, the collar sent him to the ground, twitching as white hot bolts of _ouch_ screamed through his veins.

"Whoops. My finger slipped."

The 'questioning' lasted for what Wally would have sworn were hours. Sportsmaster was relentless, but the speedster was stubborn. Stubborn enough to continue to grit his teeth and yell obscenities, even when his face hit the ground and his body burned with the strain or the shock or both. The questions fired at him merely rattled off his skull, his replies a swift, but ineffective, counterattack.

"What is your mentor's secret identity?"

"Your mum. Weyyyyy-" A grunt of pain.

"Where is your team based?"

"Wouldn't you like to kno-" A sharp cry.

"What are the real names of your teammates?"

"Mickey Mouse and Abraham freakin' Lincoln-" His cries had become shouts.

"Where does intel for your missions come from?"

"Google, you Neanderthal-" Wally's shouts evolved into screams.

"Where is the Watchtower located?"

"Up your fat, hairy-" His screams were drowned out by the intensity of the electric shocks, he prayed for them to leave but they left searing trails in his brain, each question promising their return. He couldn't do this, he couldn't do it-

And then, without even realising how he got there, the speedster was back in his cell, ankle shackled to the wall, and annoyingly, his hands still cuffed. He looked for the girl, but she wasn't there. Wally didn't even know if he wanted her help, not now, not after the revelation in the questioning room. He felt sick and he wasn't sure why, but those two words spun around and around and around in his mind until he was dizzy: _baby girL_ _baby girl baby girl._

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 **Thanks for reading- remember to leave a review, it really helps!**


	4. Revelation

This is the longest chapter so far- I didn't really know how to leave it, and I wasn't sure about another unhappy chapter ending but wellllllll you'll see.

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Time stretched into a haze of dreams and cold reality, then shrank back into the present. He didn't know how long it had been, or whether he had been conscious or not, but the steel door opened and there she was, something like a gasp falling from her mouth and she was by his side, unlocking the handcuffs and propping him up against the wall. Wally looked pointedly away from her, willing his breathing to slow down and smooth out, his limbs to stop shaking even though the electric charge had long passed.

"You took your time." He muttered, with bitterness to rival the sour tang of blood between his teeth. Archer girl was silent, but Wally wasn't done yet.

"I get that we aren't exactly close or anything, but it would've been nice to know- no, I think I _deserved_ to know, because I've been putting up with a hell of a lot of-"

"Shut up." She was still crouched next to him, fight or flight instincts at war on the battleground of her features.

Wally persisted. His nerves were taut and his body was exhausted and he just wanted someone else to feel like he did.

"Y'know, I thought you were okay, I thought you might be different, I guess- I thought you were at least a little bit good, but I was wrong-"

"I said shut up."

Archer girl was bordering on snarling, but Wally continued, unperturbed. He wanted to enjoy this.

"And it makes me wonder what else you've lied about, what if-"

"I never lied!"

"Sorry, _baby girl_." The girl's eyes widened. Somehow, the smirk didn't fit right on his face, but the speedster wore it nonetheless. "But you didn't exactly tell the truth."

Something deeper than silence fell upon the cell, and Wally took a moment to record the transition of expressions on Archer girl's face. Shock. Disgust. Loathing. Fury. She drew an arm back like the string of her bow, and he braced himself for the attack. But it never came.

Instead, the fist was loosened and the girl stumbled away, her fingers making nests in her hair, her mouth making noises of frustration.

She cursed, then finally, turned back to the speedster, her eyes ablaze. Her hands found the material at his neck and pulled him up, back against the wall, feet only brushing the ground. When she spoke, her voice was a growl from the back of her throat and her nose was a hair's width from his.

"I don't have to tell you any of this, okay? I never had to tell you anything in the first place but you know what? I did, I stitched your bloody shoulder and I told you about your stupid friends, so if anyone deserves anything, then it's me and I deserve your respect. And I don't have to tell you this either, but I will, if only to stop you feeling like such a goddamn martyr and acting like you're better than me, and that that somehow gives you the right to take me on a freaking guilt trip- because you don't, and you aren't, and you sure as hell never will be."

Wally didn't say anything. After the girl finished glaring, she released him and the speedster collapsed to the floor, gasping. From the ground, Wally watched the blonde girl sigh, sit down in front of him, and begin to talk.

"You wanted the truth? Fine. My Dad, as you so aptly guessed, is Sportsmaster. My mother is- was, Huntress. My sister is Cheshire. Great family, huh? I didn't stand a freaking chance. Dad trained me and my sister up to be like him, made us do these assignments. I'll leave what we had to do to your imagination. About a month ago, I was sent out to 'eliminate' some guy. Nice way to say kill. A politician, I guess, it didn't really matter. I did everything right: I broke in one night, disabled security, found him sleeping. I could've just done it. Just like that. One arrow, straight through the heart. Over. But I freaked out, the guy woke up, I barely managed to get out alive. Dad was furious, and I wasn't allowed another assignment until I proved myself... Which is why I'm stuck watching you."

It took a while for Wally to process the information. Her honesty had taken him aback, and he wasn't quite sure how to respond. Eventually, one word settled on his tongue.

"Okay."

A crease formed between archer girl's eyebrows, and Wally noticed the bruise on her jaw was darker than before.

"Wait, what?" She asked.

"It's okay. Um, thanks. For telling me."

They shared something of a smile.

"Yeah, well, you won't be thanking me in a minute." Archer girl turned to pick up a small box from the corner of the cell, and Wally stiffened.

"...Why not?" He asked, suspicious.

"I need to take the stitches out your shoulder." The girl returned with the box- a first aid kit, from which she took a pair of tweezers and some surgical scissors. "And I can't do that until you take the top part off that stupid outfit of yours."

Seeing Wally hesitate, the blonde continued. "Or I can do it, I mean, I had to have you shirtless when you needed stitching up in the first place. Nothing I haven't seen before."

The speedster's face suddenly matched his hair, and he dropped his head to mumble "fine", before unzipping his costume and peeling it off his arms and chest, the material collecting at his waist. Inky blue and purple splotches on his ribs caught his eye, and he crossed his arms before the blonde saw. Archer girl leaned over as she pulled away the bandages, and Wally hissed when cool air hit the cut on his shoulder.

"Wuss." She murmured in response, but softened when she saw his eyes cloud with pain. "I'd give you something to stop it hurting, but there's nothing in the box. Also, I can hardly go up and ask Rha's if he's got a spare paracetamol 'cause Kid Flash has a boo-boo."

"It is _so_ not a boo-boo." Wally replied tersely.

"You bet it is."

"How many stitches?"

"...Twelve."

"That's no boo-boo, that's a serious injury."

"I'll agree if you stop saying boo-boo."

"Hey, you started it."

"And I'll finish it too if you don't shut up."

Wally shut up pretty quickly after that. He fixed his stare on a particularly interesting wall-stain as archer girl cut the stitches, then began to pull them out, one by one. He especially tried to ignore how close their faces were, and how warm her breath was on his skin. _Stop it, Wall-man, she's the enemy. It's her fault you're still here, you still have the bruises from when she kicked you, her dad was torturing you a few hours ago, she's a Shadow, she's a killer, she's- gently rubbing your shoulder with her thumb as she pulls the stitches out, she's got her eyes half closed and the lashes almost meet, she smells like... Engine oil and chocolate, dangerous and-_

Wally blinked himself out of his trance, shaking his head a little and in turn moving his shoulder just as archer girl took hold of a stitch with the tweezers. The pain made him groan a little, his fingers digging furrows in his arms.

"Please tell me you're almost done." He said through clenched teeth.

"About halfway." Was the answer. Wally closed his eyes and prayed they'd take him somewhere else. The pain only amplified, the stitches pulling at his flesh and dragging up the skin. Cold steel tickled his scabbed wound, making his muscles contract and stretch the cut wider, like a mouth trying to open.

"Artemis."

The speedster opened his eyes, and archer girl's grey pupils gazed back.

"What?"

"That's my name. Artemis."

Wally smiled at her. "I like it." He said. "It suits you." Archer girl- Artemis smiled back, then frowned and jerked her hand away from his shoulder as one final stitch was ripped free. He gasped, his breathing coarse for a few seconds, but then the pain subsided and he reached up tentatively, his fingers mapping the raised skin, the tender tautness of it. The speedster looked to Artemis, about to acknowledge her for her help, only to see her gaze lowered to his chest. Carefully, the blonde reached out, her hand brushing his bruised ribs. She frowned, then seemed to feel Wally's eyes on her, and snatched her hand away, turning back to the box and taking out another roll of bandage.

"I don't want it getting infected, the bandage is just for protection." Artemis explained, her voice a little brusque as she wrapped the bandage around his shoulder. "That's why I took the stitches out early, I didn't want to risk it... I also didn't know how fast you heal, I was told that super speed can accelerate healing..."

"Only if I've got enough spare energy." Wally explained. "And I only have spare energy if I've eaten enough. Which I haven't." As if to reinforce his point, the speedster's stomach grumbled a loud complaint.

Artemis was silent, but Wally could almost hear her thoughts as they flickered behind her eyes.

"Wait here." She tied off the bandage and was at the door in a heartbeat.

"I don't really have much choice- where are you going?"

"Just wait!"

The blonde girl disappeared from the cell, and Wally called out just as the door closed:

"I'm here all day!"

Minutes crept by, and Wally pulled his costume back on. He thought about pulling the cowl over his face, but ended up leaving it crumpled at the nape of his neck. No use in wearing it now, he had nothing left to hide. As it often did, his mind turned to the team. It had been days, maybe a week now. The rescue missions he had undertaken: finding those missing people had taken hours at the most, and they were just people. He was _kid flash_ , young hero, loved protege, admired and respected throughout the league and Central City. So why hadn't they found him yet?

He was interrupted when the door opened again to reveal a shifty looking Artemis, a bundle of blankets in her arms. She glanced out the door before closing it, her cheeks flushed, and moved towards him, where Wally caught the scent of- _dear god, was that stuffed crust? Mozzarella, tomato sauce, double pepperoni..._ His nose's suspicions were confirmed when Artemis put the bundle down and unwrapped the blanket, revealing three pizza boxes. A waterfall of saliva pooled in Wally's mouth and he looked at the boxes like they were a breath of air and he was a drowning man.

"Are they... Is that...?"

Artemis just sat and held out a box. Wally took it without any further questions, ripping the cardboard as he prised it open, and began to devour the gorgeous, heavenly, wondrous pizza before she changed her mind and took it away.

Half interested, half disgusted, Artemis watched Wally stack two slices of meat feast and eat them like a sandwich, his eyes rolling back in apparent ecstasy.

"I didn't know what toppings you liked, so I just got a bunch of different ones..." She tried to say, but was interrupted by Wally moaning between mouthfuls. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to order pizza here?"

"Yhoo ordha eeht?" He asked, mid-mouthful.

"Yeah, I wasn't going to go out myself, I just called, and now there are, apart from Shadows, an exclusive group of two people who have seen this base."

"Da peesha guy?"

"You and him. And lemme tell you, he looked terrified."

"Whay?"

"It's like, two in the morning. Dark. Some random girl is waiting on an abandoned street corner for three large boxes of pizza. Anyone would have their suspicions."

"Choo een a moonen?"

"Yup, no better time for a two-hours-past-midnight feast."

"Wha abouh da Shaa-howsh?"

"Oh, the others don't know. Dad would blow a fuse if he found out, but I don't think anyone checks the budget account closely enough to notice a few pizzas being bought on Shadow money. The blankets helped me sneak it past the guards."

"Hank hoo."

"It's okay. Think of it as... getting even. After what my dad did to you; I guess I owed you something. Three pizzas in return for two hours of- whatever. Anyway, we're even now. You don't get to punch me in the face, I won't use that stupid remote on you anymore. Deal?"

Wally's mouth froze, the last piece of crust having just passed his lips. He chewed, thoughtful, for a few seconds, and this time, spoke after he had swallowed.

"Artemis. You don't have to do this." She started to speak, but he interrupted. "No, not _this_ -" gesturing to the pizza, he continued- "But **this** : making excuses for your dad, making up for what he does. You don't have to do that, Artemis, and you don't have to feel like you should. I... You're not a bad person, and you don't deserve this-"

"Shut up."

"-and you can have better: a normal life, away from here. The League can help you, Artemis, they don't hold grudges and they help people who need helping, people like you-"

"Stop it, just stop."

"-when they come, I can tell them, you can come with us, you can have a future- you said so yourself, you said-"

"I SAID SHUT. UP." Artemis exploded, standing over him, bow in hand, eyes ablaze. Wally found himself shrinking into the wall.

"I was just-"

"They're not coming, okay? Your stupid team, your stupid Justice League- they're not coming for you! It's been over a week, don't you think they would have been here by now?" Her voice suddenly softened, maybe from his expression, or maybe from her words. "Just give up. It's easier, I promise. It'll hurt less if you just tell them what you know and get it over with. But you're right about me, West. I'm not a bad person, I'm a freaking awful one. I'm a murderer and a liar and a thief, and redemption isn't an option for me so just shut up and eat your pizza and let me not care about you, because I don't want to."

Wally felt her words sink into him like a knife to the gut. He felt cold, alone, and her words wrapped around his throat like a noose. _They're not coming they're not coming they're not coming_. The words didn't stop him from finishing the remaining two pizzas, but when she led him to the toilet, minutes later, their grip around his neck tightened and he vomited in the sink, hands clammy and shaking as they struggled to hold him up. He walked out, almost certain that Artemis knew what had happened, but she gave away no clues, her face stone. Before she left the cell, having re-shakled his ankle and collected discarded pizza boxes, she nudged the blankets towards him with her foot.

"Might as well keep them." She mumbled, then left.

Their warmth did little to fill the hollowness inside Wally as he curled up on the mattress, cocooned in the blankets. His friends weren't coming, the stained walls told him. The League doesn't care, chimed the pipes. He was alone. Desperately, painfully alone, and as Wally contemplated this, felt the awful gaping weight of his aloneness, a silent tear slipped down his cheek.

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Thank you to all the lovely people who left reviews! You made my day.


	5. Mayfair

Seeing as the last couple chapters were rather dark and gloomy, I tried to make this one a little more lighthearted. Not sunshine-and-rainbows, but an optimistic sort of angsty hurting, y'know?

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There was a border between him and Artemis in the following days. A wall. She was there when he woke, and still sitting in the corner when he fell asleep, but her presence, her _being_ , was missing. She didn't speak. She didn't even look at him. His food came with nothing but reproachful silence, and though he swore the portion of grey mush was bigger, less lukewarm and more hot, the evidence of her caring was overturned by Artemis' dull-eyed gaze, her placid expression. Conversation, Wally soon concluded, was not a wise choice, and his boredom swelled as the hours of nothing stacked up like the arrows the blonde girl had resumed sharpening. Events took a turn for the worse when the armed men burst through the door again, dread filling Wally like it was poison in his veins.

They took him to the questioning room, Sportsmaster already there, but Wally hardly felt like cracking a joke or firing a lame insult. He just stood, hands cuffed behind his back, head hanging. Resigned.

Artemis hadn't followed him, but an armed guard escorted her in a minute later. Still, she wouldn't look at Wally, but she wouldn't look at Sportsmaster either.

"I need the remote, baby girl. Where is it?"

Artemis swallowed. Her eyes flicked to Wally, only for a second, before she licked her lips and replied.

"I... I lost it."

Nobody breathed. The man in the hockey mask advanced in her, taking slow, easy strides forward until their noses were inches apart. Wally didn't even see his arm move, but all of a sudden, Artemis was on the floor, gasping. A guard, seeing Wally move to help, pressed the barrel of a gun against his throat. He could only watch as Artemis got to her feet, only to be struck down a second time. She had the remote, he was sure, she had taken it out her pocket when she restrung her bow, he had seen her pocket it again, seconds later. What was she doing?

"Useless." Sportsmaster muttered, watching his daughter find her feet and stand, shaking. "Get out of my sight."

In seconds, Artemis was gone, but Wally was sure she glanced at him, for a heartbeat, before she left. Now he felt truly alone, a lead weight of dread in his throat but he refused to follow Artemis' advice: _Just give up. It's easier, I promise. It'll hurt less if you just tell them what you know and get it over with._ No. He was better than this. He was Kid Flash, he was a hero, he was not going to give up, not going to give in. Not now, not ever.

When the first question came, he just grinned and shook his head. An uppercut to the jaw was his only reward. On the second, he staggered sideways from the force of a right hook, and after the third, he was face down on the ground, blood streaming from his mouth like it was trying to escape the ringing in his ears. _Not giving in._ Hindered somewhat by the handcuffs, he stood up again. And was knocked down. _Not giving in._ The mouth blood was joined by an impressive flow from his nose. _Not giving in._ His ribs ignited, one, two, three, four times. _Not giving in._ He was picked up and thrown against a wall. _Not giving in_ , he thought, his face leaving a red smear on the concrete. _Not giving in._

"I'm going to make this nice and easy for you, kid." Sportsmaster had him up against the wall, hands around his throat. "Your mentor's name, and I won't strangle you right here and now."

Wally didn't quite manage a smile, but he looked right into the villain's eyes as he swore, then spat a spray of red in his face. He was on the floor a second later, head pulsing, when a foot landed on his shoulder and pressed against it, pushing it in a direction shoulders are not supposed to go. The intensity of his own scream masked the sickening pop, but did nothing to hide the raw, throbbing agony, and when Sportsmaster picked him up again, his screams only increased in volume. _Not giving in. Not giving in. Not giving in._ His face was wet with tears or blood or both, but he had made his mind up, his stubborn, speedster mind, and he was not going to let a single word slip.

In a way, it was a relief when his head smacked against a wall hard enough to knock him out, cold.

 _-o-_

 _Ouch,_ was Wally's waking thought, a low groan following in quick succession. Someone was playing a samba drum inside his head, and someone else was having a great time with a pneumatic drill and his shoulder. _Yaaaay._

Opening his eyes was like lifting heavy shutters from his corneas, a blurred image of Artemis crouched over him coming into focus. She was strapping his fingers together- broken, he realised- and she hadn't yet noticed he was awake. Wally felt his mouth twist into a diluted version of a smile.

"You're not good at this whole evil thing, are you?"

"I liked you better unconscious." Artemis replied, not even looking up.

"You liked me better shirtless."

The blonde girl's eyes narrowed, and Wally yelped as Artemis tightened the binding on his fingers. She finished and dropped his hand, her gaze settling on his face.

"Okay, I've set your busted nose and taped your fingers- your head bled for a while but it should be fine, stuck a bandage on it, you've got a split lip and a whole load of grazes and I haven't even looked at your ribs, but I think you'll be okay."

Wally whistled. "Think so, huh?" He cracked a grin, straining his neck so he could see her better. "But I'm still pretty, right?"

Artemis made a face.

"You're a mess. But I guess you already were."

Seeing his outstretched hand, she took it and tried to pull him up, but Wally's shoulder gave in and he cried out, a roar of pain echoing through his arm. He curled over, protective, his breathing harsh. Artemis reached out to touch his shoulder, but he shrank away.

"Let me see." Wally shook his head. "Just hold still, I'm not going to touch it-" Artemis' fingers ghosted the swollen shoulder, a tiny breath flying from her when she saw the awkward angle.

"Dislocated." She muttered. "Dammit."

Ignoring his protests, Artemis took the injured arm in her hands, gently moving it so it was parallel to the ground, bent at the elbow. Her eyes locked with his.

"Do you trust me?" She asked.

"Uh... Yeah?"

"Wrong answer."

In one swift motion, Artemis rotated the arm backwards and Wally hissed as he felt the bone roll back into place, a wave of throbbing ache washing over him before dissipating. After catching his breath and somewhat recovering, he moved the arm experimentally. It was fine.

He looked at Artemis, a slyness slipping across his face.

"You owe me more pizza." He said.

The blonde made something like a snorting noise, then turned to dig around in a gym bag on the floor beside her. She produced an armful of clothes and promptly threw them at him.

"You'd better change first."

Wally opened his mouth to protest, but stopped when he looked down at his costume, torn and bloodstained and probably never wearable again. Artemis stood and offered him a hand.

"C'mon, you can clean up in the bathroom."

She led him, uninjured arm draped over her shoulder, to the grimy room at the end of the corridor. There he changed into black clothes that were slightly too large- or maybe he was just smaller, thinner, hanging from his bones like his skin was just draped over them. At first, he tried to avoid looking in the mirror as he washed the crusted blood off his face, but after a glimpse of a wiry arm, matted hair, his eyes found themselves and just couldn't stop staring.

This Wally was pale, haggard; his nose was bent at the bridge and his skin was chafed around the inhibitor collar. He felt like some sort of sick canvas: watercolour bruises and grazes painted roughly onto his skin, the creation of a deranged artist in a hockey mask. As if to prove that this was, indeed, his reflection, the speedster lifted a shaking hand and pressed it against the glass. The other Wally, the broken, tired Wally, did the same.

 _No. Not broken. Not yet._

His attention was snatched by the whine of the door being pushed open, Artemis looking in.

"You done here?" She asked, her voice soft. Wally glanced back at his reflection, then nodded.

Artemis took him back to the cell as they had left, his arm over her shoulder, his weight leaning into her. He noted that she didn't reshackle his ankle after he flopped back onto the mattress, but retreated to her corner and picked up an arrow, examining it. He watched her for a minute.

"Uh," he started, Artemis looking up as he gestured to the chain set into the wall, "Aren't you gonna, uh..."

She paused, then shook her head. "No."

Wally stared at the chain for a few seconds, his mind fumbling with information. Eventually, he spoke again.

"Why did you lie to him?"

"What?" Was the reply, but Artemis knew what he meant, he could tell by the waver in her voice.

"About the remote. You haven't lost it, have you?"

Artemis looked guilty.

"Oh, come on," Wally persisted, "Why did you lie?"

"I thought I could help you." Artemis' eyes cut to her feet, were they remained.

"I don't think help is the word for it." He held up his broken fingers as an example, and started to laugh. The laughter died in the distance between them when he saw Artemis, appalled. "Sorry." He muttered.

Soon, Wally grew tired of watching Artemis sort through her arrows, and had the feeling she felt the same.

"You've been working on the same arrows for however many days now." He said. "C'mon, there must be something interesting to do. Something you won't get in trouble for."

"Like what?" Asked Artemis, one eyebrow raised.

In the end, the pack of cards Artemis managed to take from the guards only lasted a few rounds of poker before they realised that the two of them weren't very good, and missing the diamond cards from three to seven also impacted the quality of their game. Artemis left the cell for a long hour, returning with armfuls of Chinese takeaway and one battered Monopoly box.

"This is the only board game I could find-" she started, setting up the board as Wally snapped apart a pair of chopsticks, then, after a brief struggle, abandoned them and shoveled noodles into his mouth with his hands. "I'm sure I saw Psimon and the Brain having a face-off over Battleships, but where they hid it I haven't a clue."

Wally mumbled something through a mouthful of egg fried rice, and Artemis pretended to understand him, shuffling the chance cards and community chest cards into different piles. It was obvious that many of the pieces had been lost over the years- three hotels had survived, all red, and the money was mostly made up of ripped ones, fives and twenties, several Latvian notes having slipped in between them.

Artemis cursed. "Vertigo..."

But the real problem arose when they saw that there was only one counter in the box, a tiny silver shoe. There was a small scuffle, Wally the victor.

"Aha!" He cried.

"No fair," Artemis complained, "I got the box out so I get the shoe."

Wally frowned. "But the shoe best represents me, so I get to keep it. You can have..." He scanned the room, then dove into the corner and came out holding up a rusty nail. "This."

The blonde wrinkled her nose. "No way, I want the shoe."

"Well, if you can find something else to use as a counter, then you can use that. But I get the shoe."

Artemis was quiet for a moment, and Wally feared she would pack up the game, take away the food and leave in a strop. But she didn't, and dug in her green bag instead, pulling out: an arrowhead.

"I'm using this." She said smugly. "Also, it represents me."

They placed their respective counters on Go, and Artemis rolled a pair of mismatched dice. The game began.

"Okay, I'm buying Old Kent Road."

"Take it, it sucks anyway."

"Two sixes!"

"No way, you totally cheated."

"The dice don't lie, you're just jealous I'm winning."

"I'll buy Pall Mall off you."

"Not happening, I want the red and yellows."

"It's pink."

"Shut up."

"Ew, you just sprayed chow mein all over the board."

"That's because chow mein... Is my main chow."

"Okay, I passed go, that's two hundred for me!"

"...I don't think the bank has enough. Have a prawn cracker instead."

"We are not using food as Monopoly money."

"I don't see any alternative. Two prawn crackers then, and they're worth a hundred each."

"You'll end up eating all your money."

"Fine by me."

The game had begun to come to a close when Wally found himself in jail for the third time (he was sure someone would burst in and demand what they were laughing about) and Artemis had landed on a Chance. She picked up a dog eared card and frowned.

"What's up? Did you win something or what?" Wally asked. "C'mon, show me the stupid card."

Artemis stalled for another second then turned it so the writing faced him. It read:

"GET OUT OF JAIL FREE. This card may be kept until needed or sold."

She held it out. "You can have it."

Wally jutted his chin up. "No way am I accepting your charity."

"You're going to lose."

"Yeah. On my terms."

Artemis sighed dramatically and threw the card in the air.

"You are so goddam-"

"Charming?" He interrupted.

"Infuriating!"

"Wanna quit, then?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"Okay then, I win."

"No way, I have more money, and..." Artemis gestured at the pile of crumpled notes and Chinese food on her side of the board. "Stuff."

"Yeah, but you just admitted defeat to the Wall-man, so you are-"

'I did not admit defeat, I- wait, what did you just call yourself?"

"Uh... that's beside the point!"

Eventually, they settled on a draw, and Wally helped Artemis pack away the game.

"Hey." He said, picking up the arrowhead she had used as a counter. "You don't just sharpen these, right? Do you know how to-"

"Use a bow? Duh." Artemis answered, rolling her eyes.

Wally persisted. "Who taught you?"

"My dad." She shuffled the fake money into a pile and put it in the box. Wally handed her back the arrowhead.

"And are you any good?" He asked.

Her eyes cut straight to him, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

"I'll show you."

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Aaaaand this is where I'm going to leave this chapter, I've got the next part written up but for once, I wanted to end a chapter on a more positive note. I'd like to thank everyone who leaves reviews, you are all glorious land mermaids and it feels so wonderful to know that other people are reading my writing and enjoying it, so thanks!


	6. Trigger

Just a a short chapter this time. I found the perfect place to finish and I can't wait to watch you all _squirm. *_ evil laughter*

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"There's an archery range in this base." Artemis said, shouldering her bow and quiver. "C'mon, I'll take you."

Wally stood up and moved toward the door when the archer stopped him.

"Wait." She said. "You should probably have these on."

Artemis took a pair of handcuffs out her bag.

"If my dad saw you just wandering around he'd blow a fuse." She explained, and Wally nodded and held out his hands. The metal didn't seem to bite as much as it had done before, and soon he was out of the cell and being led down the corridor. They walked for several minutes in silence, Wally dropping his gaze every now and then when a guard passed on patrol, until Artemis stopped outside a pair of steel doors and let him through.

It was larger than his cell, for sure, with a higher ceiling than his 'questioning' room and empty, aside from the targets at one end and benches lined along the walls. Looking closer, Wally saw the targets were life size cutouts of justice leaguers: Batman, Superman, Captains Marvel and Atom, Wonder Woman, two green lanterns- his heart skipped a beat- the Flash. Each riddled with bullet holes, stab wounds, even singe marks.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." Artemis started, but she was brushed off.

"Nah, it's okay, we can just... Pretend they're not my mentor, or his friends." Wally shifted on his feet. "Did, er, you do any of this?"

Artemis looked uncomfortable.

"I may have taken a little rage out on Black Canary." She muttered, and Wally suddenly recognised the league member he hadn't been able to identify, half her face being missing.

"Oh."

There was a chill in the room he hadn't noticed before, and after a moment Artemis had her hand on his arm.

"We should go."

Again he shook her off. He didn't want to go back to the cell, not now, and he was savouring every moment of being able to look at different walls, even if they were still greyfaced and grim.

"Oh, c'mon." Wally pleaded. "I know you want to practice, _you_ know you want to..." It wasn't working, he had to try another angle. He sighed dramatically. "I guess you're just not that good after all and you don't want to embarrass yourself. It's okay, really, nothing to be ashamed of-"

"Fine!" Artemis threw out her arms. She looked back at the row of heroes, scratched and torn nearly to pieces, her brow furrowed in thought. "I've got an idea." She said. "Wait here."

Artemis walked a few steps towards the door, then, almost as an afterthought, spun round, arrow in bow, and fired. The speedster cried out, but it didn't touch his skin, just caught the edge of his shirtsleeve and pinned him to the wall.

"Hey! I guess you don't trust me, whatever!" He called after her. "I'll just wait, I don't care!"

As soon as she disappeared through the door he was struggling to pull the arrow out. The awkward angle of his cuffed hands didn't help, and it was a few minutes before he accepted that the arrow was embedded several inches into the wall and wasn't coming out anytime soon. Dejected, Wally let the arrow hold him up as he sagged against the wall, sulking.

Artemis returned, her bow and quiver still over her shoulder, but this time the monopoly box was in her hands.

"I'm not playing that stupid game again." Wally moaned.

Artemis looked at him, wholly unimpressed.

"What are you, five? If you throw a strop I'll just leave you there for a few hours."

Wally glared at her.

"You wouldn't."

"Yes I would, now shut up or the next one's going to hurt you." She walked over and, after a moment of silent struggle, managed to pull the arrow free. "Do you know how to make paper aeroplanes?" She asked.

Wally stared at her. _She's gone insane,_ he thought, _God help me I'm at the mercy of a madwoman_.

Artemis read his face, then opened the monopoly box and thrust a handful of the paper money at him.

"Well, can you?"

-o-

Five minutes later, Wally was folding and launching paper money planes into the air and watching Artemis's arrows tear them into ribbons or skewer them, joining a host of other aeroplane kebabs on the wall of the range, and wondering how on earth he managed to end up here. Wally, that is, and not the paper plane. The speedster threw two at once, and cheered when they were both taken out by the same arrow.

"Nice one!" He called, and across the room, Artemis nodded, smiling, and drew another arrow from her quiver as he prepared the next plane. This time, he stacked three banknotes so they would break apart in midair, creating three seperate targets.

"Hurry up and throw them!"

He finished folding them, pulled his arm back, then watched as the three planes split formation in mid flight, one exploding almost instantly in a burst of confetti, the others flying free for a moment. Then second and third arrows flew out of nowhere and the other two planes were out of action. Wally whooped.

"Woah, that was awesome!" He yelled, before catching himself. "I mean, it was pretty good, for a newbie like you."

Her eyes shot arrows of their own at him, but she was grinning underneath it all, and Wally tried to start a conversation as he folded more planes.

"So... You got any cool trick arrows?" He asked.

"No. Dad thinks they're for wimps, he only lets me use the real thing. Maybe incendiary arrows, but never anything that couldn't be used to kill."

Two more planes fluttered to the ground, in pieces.

"When did you start learning?"

"Since I was five, six. I don't know, it's dad, he wanted to train me up like my sister, wanted me to be like him."

Another plane spiralled to the floor, the arrow that had taken it out shivered in the wall, only a few inches protruding out of the boards.

"Did you ever think about being anything else?" Wally asked, a little more tentatively. He threw the next plane into the air, watched it arch up and start to descend, she would hit it any moment now-

And then something shot past Wally's face and hit the wall next to him with a crack, he felt burning in his cheek and lifted his hands to his face. Blood. The offending arrow was still vibrating by his ear, he shot a glance to Artemis, ready to run.

"That was a warning." She said bluntly, another arrow cocked. "Next time you say anything like that, I won't miss."

In the corner of the room, the lone plane hit the ground, the only one to survive unscathed. Wally noticed his hands were shaking. He fumbled with another paper note, but was stopped.

"I think that's enough, now." Artemis walked over, pulled the arrows from the walls and stashed them back in the quiver.

They walked back to the cell in silence. Wally sat down on his mattress, noticing that Artemis hadn't taken off the handcuffs, but he was too afraid to mention it and watched her sit back down in the corner, pick up an arrow, and begin to sharpen it.

It felt like he'd taken a few tiny steps, only to be thrown back to where he started, and that realisation weighed upon him, suffocating. Wally's eyelids wavered, then closed.

-o-

His eyes snapped open. Artemis's face was a hair's breadth from his, her eyes a storm and her mouth a snarl and Wally did not see the hand that pulled back and struck him, snapping his head back against the wall. Stars flickered in and out of his vision but before he could collect his thoughts they were scattered again as Artemis punched him once, twice, three times. He moved his hands up to block the strikes, found them handcuffed, tried to catch one of her fists in his hands, succeeded. The archer paused for a moment, then grabbed Wally's wrists and pulled him up and forwards, letting go while momentum still had its hold on him, then simultaneously pushing his head down and driving a knee into his ribs. Wally hit the ground.

There was no mercy in Artemis's gaze as she stared down at him, predatory. She started to kick, hard and fast and vicious, Wally cried out and curled up as he felt blood swell up inside him. A boot to the ribs, a dull crack, he managed to catch enough breath to shout-

"Artemis!"

She did not even falter, but went for his face instead. Past a bloodied nose, Wally tried again.

"Artemis, please!"

Then she bent down, hands at his throat, lifting him and crushing him against a wall.

"Stop-"

He couldn't breathe. Desperately, he clawed at her hands, tried to find the humanity in the dark glare of her eyes, the twist of a snarl, his vision was fading, fading, his lungs ached for the taste of air but now he was slipping, slipping-


	7. Breaking Point

Sorry to keep you all waiting, this is my longest chapter yet and I am a very slow writer.

-Language warning, it gets a little heated later on...

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"Wake up, c'mon, wake up." There were hands on his face, breath on his skin. He opened his eyes, a flurry of panic and confusion rushing through him, his hands, now free, flew to defend himself- against what, exactly, Wally was not sure.

"Hey, hey, chill out." Artemis was crouched over him, hands up in a gesture of peace. It didn't look right on her. "It's just me."

He postponed a reply and glanced at his surroundings, searching for a threat. There was a sheen of sweat on his exposed skin, and the chill it caused made him draw in on himself.

Artemis seemed concerned, and that didn't look right either.

"I think you were having a bad dream. You were thrashing around and everything."

Tentative, Wally reached for his neck where her hands had been, but only found the inhibitor collar. Finally he managed to control his breathing enough to make it sound normal.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Do you... Wanna talk about it?"

Wally shook his head.

"Okay." Artemis seemed to struggle to find something else to say. "Uh... How's your face?"

Now he remembered the sting on his left cheek, and a hand crept upwards to find a scabbed line below his eye.

"It's been better." He remarked, disappointed he wasn't able to come up with something wittier. When he looked at her, there was a deadness in his voice. "Before, I didn't mean to upset you."

"And I don't care if you've just had a nightmare but I'm not accepting your apology. It was none of your business." Artemis crossed her arms and drew her mouth into a thin line.

Her words struck a nerve.

"Who said I was apologising?" Wally retorted. "I'm not sorry for what I said, you shouldn't have overreacted like that-"

"Overreacted? I barely grazed you-"

"You could have killed me!"

"But I didn't, okay, so maybe you should just lay off-"

"Maybe you should just leave me alone!" There was little right for him to be angry, but in his eyes, he had every right. "Y'know, I was just trying to be nice to you, and you know what? It's really freakin' difficult! Did you ever think that if you stopped hurting me, and other people, maybe you wouldn't be here?"

"You're saying that like I have a choice!"

Their voices had risen into fully fledged shouts. Wally stumbled to his feet, away from Artemis.

"Of course you have a choice!" He cried. "You always, always have a choice, and every fucking time you have made the wrong fucking choice! This," he shouted, opening his arms wide, "is because of you, and nobody else."

Artemis was quiet for a moment. Then she stood, and Wally had to remind himself not to back away. Finally she spoke.

"You asked what I wanted to be, right? Fine. I wanted to be like you, I wanted to help people, I wanted in on how the other half lived. I wanted, just for once, to be a hero." Her voice wavered between poisonous and soft as she edged closer. "And the first time I saw you, half dead and bleeding, I thought I'd actually get to meet the real thing. Someone who stood up for what was right, someone who didn't give up, someone with just a _shred_ of decency in them." Her mouth was right by his ear when she hissed: "So let me just say; _I'm really disappointed._ "

Wally didn't even wait for the thought to process fully in his mind, one moment he was still, and the next his fist was shooting straight towards her face. His knuckles connected with her nose just as his vision went white and then he was on his knees, gasping. In Artemis's hand was the black remote, he hadn't seen her pull it out her pocket, her other hand was cupped over her nose. He tried to stand and was rewarded with a shrieking agony in his neck and a crackling in his ears.

"If you get up, I'll do it again." Artemis growled, but Wally wasn't looking at her; he was staring fixatedly at the ground inches from his face, willing himself to get back up.

There was a lull in the pain and Wally was just about upright before Artemis pressed down on the remote. He crumpled like wet paper.

"Stay down, dammit." She was almost pleading with him. Wally gritted his teeth and clenched a fist around the tattered remains of his resolve. Almost.

He glared at her from the ground, his arms struggling to support his weight. "Fuck you."

Shocked again.

It took every ounce of willpower left in him to make not a single noise, and it soon transpired that even willpower was not enough. He had to say something.

"Not gonna kick me this time, huh?" Wally sneered from the ground. Cold sweat danced on his skin.

"Stop it."

"What, I'm not good enough for you?" He continued, forcing his arms to straighten and take some weight. "Not heroic enough?"

"Shut up."

His ears were ringing and his nerves were at absolute breaking point but he didn't dare stop talking because for once, something felt _good_.

"Go on, say it. You wanted someone to pity you."

"I said shut up!"

"You wanted somebody to hold your hand-" clumsy, he managed to kneel, "-and tell you that it's okay-"

"Please-"

"-that it's not your fault, you're just poor, misunderstood little Artemis, and you didn't _mean_ to hurt anyone." Wally used the wall to steady himself. Bitter fury snatched the last words from his mouth and shot them at her, point blank.

"You're lying to yourself if you think you're any better than your father."

Absolute silence.

Wally felt his heartbeat in his mouth.

Hazy, Artemis stared him down, her nose starting to bleed, the remote in her hand. Her glare was flame hot and ice cold and when she spoke, it was with a voice to match.

"I don't want to do this."

"Then stop doing it!" Wally shouted, and then his head exploded into whiteness.

No longer able to contain it, an awful, guttural scream broke from his throat like it was made of eggshell. He caught Artemis clapping a hand over her mouth before his eyes screwed shut and he hit the floor, hard.

Silence again.

Air filtered into Wally's lungs but he did not feel like he was breathing. Eventually, he rolled onto his side, chest heaving, body trembling, spent. With eyes half open, he looked up at Artemis. The blood from her nose had reached her chin but she made no move the stem the flow. There was the same cold look on her face, the grimace she wore like she wasn't enjoying what she did, but sure as hell wouldn't regret it later.

"That's it, I give up." He said, almost a croak. "Isn't this what you wanted? I. Give. Up."

-o-

Artemis stood over him for another minute, but Wally didn't move, just lay on his side and let his eyes glaze over and close, his breathing harsh. He stayed perfectly still; maybe if she thought he was unconscious, she would leave him alone. Then, he heard her step closer- _this was it this was it_ \- he tried not to tense up and then she was by his side, helping him sit up- _she wasn't hurting him, not this time_ \- and then her arms slipped around his sides and she was half lifting, half pulling him across the floor, back to his mattress. Propped against the wall, Wally heard her shuffle around then return, her hands pushing the hair out of his face, probing the cut across his face where the arrow had grazed him. Something sticky was pressed over the graze and Wally realised she had stuck a band-aid on his cheek.

Remorse hit him like a steel wall at the speed of sound. He had been shouting abuse at her just a minute ago, and here she was, being _kind_.

Artemis' attention moved to his neck, chafed and burned by the collar. Wally felt her hands flit over his skin, gentle, careful, and found it hard to believe they belonged to the same girl who had, minutes ago, left him screaming and writhing on the floor. Then something deliciously cool was pressed against his throat and he could no longer contain a sigh of complete bliss. His eyes opened and he felt Artemis stiffen under his touch.

"You're still awake." She said, frowning, eyes narrowed. Her hands withdrew, along with the cloth, and Wally felt something inside him sink. Artemis had just stood up, turning to leave, when he stopped her.

"Wait-"

 _What was he doing?_

Artemis spun round, irritated.

"What?"

"I just..." He couldn't think of anything to say. There wasn't a word in the English language that summed up how truly awful he felt about what he had said to her. It was far too late to take anything back, and far too soon to apologise. Not that she would forgive him, anyway.

"...you're bleeding." Wally finished lamely.

Artemis lifted a hand to her face, catching crimson on her fingers and blinking when she saw how bright her blood was.

"Oh."

Searching around him, Wally picked up the cloth she had dropped and held it out to her.

"Here."

"...Thanks."

Artemis took the cloth and gingerly, held it against her nose. It looked broken.

There was an awkward pause; Artemis opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. She shifted on her feet, then walked away, pulling the cell door open.

Wally felt a surge of panic.

"Please don't go," he called. Artemis froze and Wally's breath caught on his teeth. "I know, after what I said... you don't owe me anything, but can you just stay, please?"

Artemis stayed where she was, halfway out of the door, her back to him. Wally heard her take a wavering breath, then release it.

"Too late." She muttered, and Wally felt the last whole piece of himself break when the door slammed shut.

Numb, he brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them, head buried between his knees, trying to fill the overwhelming emptiness inside his chest. He was too empty to cry, too empty to scream or shout or slam his fists against the wall and roar. So he just sat there, on a filthy mattress in the corner of a tiny cell, alone with himself.

-o-

Wally did not think Artemis would return.

He definitely did not think Artemis would return quietly, not even an hour later, crouch down in front of him and gently lift his head. Bleary eyed, he blinked up at her- not finding anger or resent written on her face, but calm. She pressed something into his hand and Wally glanced down to see: a chocolate bar. His mouth watered in anticipation but his stomach twisted at the thought of it, the thought of _her_. Artemis saw his hesitation.

"I know you're hungry." She encouraged. "You have to eat something."

Reverently, Wally unwrapped the chocolate and bit off the first piece. It had been far too long since he had had something so sweet in his mouth and he moaned softly, his tongue in ecstasy.

"Thank you." He said, but Artemis didn't even look up.

She was reading the label on a small grey tub of something and chewing on her bottom lip. Wally took another bite of chocolate and Artemis opened the tub, sniffed the contents, then scooped out two fingerfuls of white goop and made a move for Wally's throat. When he shied away, she tried for reassurance.

"The cream is mainly for rashes, but I thought it could help your neck..."

Seeing the honesty in her face, Wally let his guard down and allowed Artemis dab the cream where inhibitor collar had left a swathe of tender skin. Immediately, the raw, stinging sensation lessened, and he found himself relaxing as Artemis treated him.

"I didn't know it would get this bad."

Wally frowned when he heard the undertones of guilt in her voice.

"It hurts less than you'd think." He lied.

A quick, fleeting glimpse at her face showed Artemis trying to smile. Wally didn't bother. Guilt was eating him from the inside out; he had to say something to address the awkward hesitation between them.

"Artemis-" Her eyes shot up to his face. "What I said before, about being like your father, I didn't mean it, okay?"

"But you still said it."

Wally realised then that it may not have been the best time to talk about his misgivings, with Artemis' hands so close to his neck, and memories of his nightmare still fresh on his mind.

"And I shouldn't have... But really, Artemis, I didn't mean what I said." He licked his lips and dropped his gaze. "I just wanted to hurt you, like you hurt me."

His honesty made her pause, her hand inches from his face.

"No."

Her hand made a fist, and withdrew.

"What?" Wally asked.

"No, you were right. I chose to carry on using that stupid remote- you were on the floor, you were screaming- and I didn't stop. I didn't-" Tears welled in Artemis' eyes and she bit down on her fist, fighting them.

"Hey, it's okay." Wally stretched out a hand and touched her arm. He waited for her to shake him off and snarl, but Artemis just closed her eyes. He had never seen her so fragile before.

It felt wrong.

"You're not like them," he started, just as he felt tremors under her skin. "I've spent a long time with the people the Shadows want dead. And... with what you have: loyalty, courage, honesty, sheer force of will- Superman couldn't match you on his best day."

A sniff, then Artemis looked up at him, her eyes wet.

"You think so?"

"I know so." Wally confirmed, and before he had even decided to do so, his arms wrapped around her and he had pulled Artemis into a hug. "You aren't your family, Artemis. Remember that."

For a moment, she didn't move, then Wally felt the archer reciprocate, her hands moving up his back and fisting the material there. She started to shake, and Wally knew she was crying.

"It's okay," he murmured. "Artemis, it's okay."

Minutes passed, and eventually Artemis pulled away from him, hurriedly wiping her eyes with a trembling hand. After regaining her composure, Artemis sat and looked at Wally. Wally looked back.

They both seemed at loss for words to say.

"Uh, so... What was your dream about?"

 _Oh, no._ This was the last thing Wally wanted to talk about. _Monsters. Sharks. Vampires. Blood sucking sloths, thunderstorms, parasites, anything but-_

"You."

For a long moment, Artemis was completely still. She seemed to have her attention fixed on something beyond the wall behind Wally's shoulder, but then she blinked and she was back in the present.

"What... What was I doing, in the dream?" She asked, with the trepidation of someone testing ice on a frozen lake, bound to fall in.

Wally chewed on the inside of his cheek, hard.

"You were..." _Doing nothing. Singing. Naked. Flying. Dancing the hula. Anything but-_ "Artemis, you were hurting me." He ducked his head. "You wouldn't stop, I was begging you to stop and you just... kept going."

A hand cupped his cheek and reluctantly, Wally looked back up at Artemis. She didn't look angry or cold, like he expected, but troubled.

"You know I wouldn't do that."

He did not reply.

"You know I wouldn't do that, right?"

Wally pulled his hands away from Artemis and probed his neck.

"You kinda just did." He said, and waited for fury to find the girl in front of him and consume her.

It didn't.

Instead, Artemis pulled her hands away, biting her lip and nodding.

"Y'know, I really wanted to hate you." She said, frank.

"I think I could say the same thing." Countered Wally.

They shared a quick grin.

"If it wasn't like this, if we were just ordinary kids- do you think we'd be friends?" Asked Artemis.

Wally thought for a moment. "I think so. Maybe."

"I mean, if you weren't so stupid and annoying."

Wally huffed. "Oh, like you're Miss Congeniality-"

"I'm better than you!"

"Oh yeah? Well-"

Their volley of insults lasted about half a minute before Artemis ran out of words for 'idiot' and Wally stopped trying to outdo her.

"It's gonna keep happening, isn't it?" He asked her. "We're doing okay, then I say something wrong and you freak out and then we're both patching each other up and lying about how much it hurts. It's a cycle, Artemis, and it's not gonna stop until we get over... this." _Or I get out of here_ , Wally thought, but he didn't dare mention escape, not while the air itself was fragile from their previous argument.

"And how do you propose we do that? In case it escaped your notice, we're on different sides." Artemis said and Wally became aware of just how close they were.

"Then... let's just pretend it doesn't matter." His hand rested on hers as he drew nearer, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. "Can we do that?"

Artemis' breath was sweet as she started to speak.

"I think-"

The cell door opened.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

* * *

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I'm sort of running out of steam at this point- I've been updating as often as I can but as I am SUCH a slow writer it's hard to keep it up. To all of you leaving reviews: you are wonderful and I love you all. Thank you.


	8. Deadline

Probably the hardest chapter to write so far, this went through about four different draft stages with everyone reacting differently every time. Ugh. Thanks for all the support and lovely reviews, though. I'd send you all flowers if I could.

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The pair jumped apart as if spring loaded, and Wally was on a hair trigger as he and Artemis snapped their eyes to the door. Standing there was Cheshire, her mask pulled back. She was grinning.

"What are you doing?" Artemis asked, but she sounded more panicked than threatening as she tried to increase the distance between her and Wally.

"Thought I'd drop by, see how my little sister is coping..." She trailed off, staring at the dried blood just beneath Artemis' nose. Her eyes narrowed, her gaze swept to Wally, poisonous, then back to Artemis. "Did he-"

"No- no! It was... Dad."

Cheshire's expression darkened for a second, and Wally thought he saw a fist twitch, but then she was playful again, and raised an eyebrow at the two teens. "Well, obviously, you're a little... preoccupied."

Artemis went red. Her older sister sniffed the air.

"Is that Chinese?" Her eyes cut to the cardboard boxes on the cell floor. "Oh, Dad would be so mad if he knew..."

"But you won't tell him, right?" Artemis' voice went shrill. "You can't- if you do, I'll tell him about what you and that sidekick of Green Arrow's get up to..."

"You wouldn't." Cheshire's tone was icy, but Wally was still caught up on what Artemis had said.

"Wait, what-" he started, but was cut off by a sharp "Shut up!" From both girls.

"So... you won't tell dad, will you?" Artemis ventured.

The older girl snickered. "No, I've taken certain liberties in the past without father dearest having a clue. I think I'll let you treat your little pet hero."

"I'm not a pet!" Wally protested.

"Shut up." Said Cheshire and Artemis simultaneously.

The speedster sulked in the corner.

"So, what are you really doing here?" Asked Artemis.

"What, am I not allowed to look out for my little sister?" Cheshire feigned a wounded tone.

Her sister scowled. "It would make a change from the past sixteen years, so yes."

"All right then." The assassin leaned against the doorframe, casually inspecting her nails. "I'm here as more of a warning: dad's not been very happy with anything freckles here has had to say, so he's moving the day forward. To tomorrow."

"What?" Artemis was on her feet in a heartbeat. _Yeah...what?_ Wally thought, clueless as to what Cheshire had just said, but not quite willing to speak up again.

"He's doing _what_?" Asked Artemis again, the tension in her voice almost tangible.

Her sister took a step backwards, her hands up in a gesture of peace.

"Woah there sis, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just relaying what dad said."

"Yeah, but that wasn't supposed to be for weeks! The Justic League hasn't even made contact yet-" Artemis was cut off by Cheshire.

"Contact? Arty, why would we talk to... ohhhhh." Realisation tickled the assassin's mouth into a perfect O, her smile having slipped away. "You don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what? About what?" Panic seeped into Artemis' voice and Wally was starting to feel it affect his composure. Cheshire's mouth pulled downwards, her eyes wandering away from her sister. "Negotiating with the Justice League was never part of the plan, little sis. Who would they swap for kid headache? Captain Cold? Don't think so. Anyone we've got in Belle Reve is there because they're part of some kind of plan, or they're not worth trading for loudmouth over here."

Wally would have opened his mouth to protest, but he was too busy digesting Cheshire's words. Artemis too, was silent.

"Dad doesn't want anyone out of prison. He doesn't want money, either." Cheshire continued. "He wants to make a statement. That was the plan- catch the little black ops team of sidekicks, get as much info out of them as possible, then send their bodies back to the League in tiny, tiny pieces."

Wally felt sick.

Artemis, however, seemed almost unaffected.

"You can delay him though, can't you?" She asked. "Just one more day, I need to-"

"Sorry sis, it was going to be tonight before I persuaded them otherwise; you're lucky you'll get to say goodbye."

 _This isn't real,_ Wally told himself, fighting the nausea that gripped his throat. _It's another dream, you'll wake up and you'll be at home, none of this is happening, it can't be happening..._

Cheshire shrugged away Artemis' words and was opening the door to leave when she stopped. "Oh right, one other thing."

Wally's heart sank. It couldn't be worse than it already was.

"Dad wants you to do it."

He was wrong.

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Cheshire slipped out of the cell and an unforgiving sense of hopelessness took her place. Wally watched as Artemis fell back against the cell wall, then slid to the floor, her eyes distant. He couldn't breathe, his thoughts circled his head like vultures.

 _I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die._

All at once it became too much and Wally fell forward onto his hands and began to retch. He was shaking all over, he couldn't think properly, it was just him and an overwhelming dread clenched around his neck.

 _I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die I'm going to die._

When he lifted his head, Artemis was still sat by the wall. One hand was clamped over her mouth, in a state of shock. Wally had no pity for her.

"You knew, didn't you?" He asked.

Without looking at him, Artemis nodded. Of course she had known what they planned to do, she was a Shadow... But judging from her reaction, she had known less than her sister.

"But you still helped me." Wally said.

Slowly, Artemis turned to face him, her eyes not quite meeting his, not yet. There was shame in the way she held herself.

"You're not going to... do it, are you?"

She shook her head.

"No, no- I promise you, I won't."

A candle flame's worth of hope flickered in Wally, then dissipated.

"Someone has to." He muttered.

Nobody spoke for several minutes.

It was Wally who sighed, then broke the silence.

"Y'know, there have been so many times I thought it'd be close, that the chance of getting out alive would be slim at best. But... I never really stopped and thought about it- the mission would finish and we'd debrief and that was it."

He tried to smile. It withered on his lips.

"I know, I'm supposed to be ready for this, dying is kind of an occupational hazard when you wear spandex and see Batman every other week. But I'm not, Artemis. I'm not ready. I've gone so long making it out with just bruises and a broken bone or two, I forgot how real everything is. I'm sixteen, I'm just a kid, so are you- when did we stop being kids?"

Artemis was shaking her head, she was moving to leave.

"No, I can't-"

"Please." Wally held out a hand, he wanted her to stay, he didn't want to be alone. "Just- don't go, Artemis. Can you do this for me? Can you just... stay?"

He looked up at her, all grey eyes and clenched fists and a lower jaw that was trying really hard not to tremble.

"Okay." She whispered, but she didn't sit back in the corner, or on the floor in front of him. Her back grazed the wall as she sat back down by his side and hooked an arm around his shoulder. Wally had forgotten what warmth had felt like and then it all became too much and more, he was cold and exhausted and battered and bruised and he hadn't seen his friends or family in so long and it hurt in the most brutal, most honest way possible, and he started to sob. Fat, lonely tears rolled down his cheeks and he buried his face in her shoulder, she let him, her other hand reaching up and smoothing his hair. Neither of them said anything, and all Wally could see were shining droplets falling, soaking into her shirt.

All but one he traced back to himself.

* * *

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This one was a little more sombre than the others, but with a good reason I guess.


	9. Ricochet

I wasn't quite ready to "make a move" this chapter, so you're going to have to wait a little longer to find out what actually happens, but whilst this isn't exactly filler, this one's going to be a little... different.

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When Wally woke, Artemis was gone.

He lay in a tangle of blankets, silent, for a long while. It felt like everything he had left to give had spilled out onto the floor around him. It felt like he was empty. He didn't dare look at the cell door, and when he did, he could not tear his eyes away. There was nothing he could do but wait with his heart in his mouth and his pulse between his fingertips, praying that he would have just one extra minute of life before the guards came in and took it from him.

This was worse than what Sportsmaster had done to him, this waiting and not knowing. Wally half hoped someone would burst in and put a bullet between his eyes. That way it would be over sooner, but the thought made him sick to his stomach. Eventually he sat up, pulling blankets over his shoulders, and hugged himself.

A piece of paper on the cell floor caught his eye.

Slowly, Wally reached out and picked it up. Not paper- the Chance card from the monopoly game, the one he and Artemis had laughed over. It all felt so long ago now. He turned it in his hands, and found something scrawled on the other side in spidery handwriting. Wally's heart soared.

" **TRUST ME.** " It read.

He clutched it like a lifeline.

 _But what was Artemis doing?_ She should be here, with him, not wandering the base doing... whatever it was she was up to. And what did she mean, why did she need him to trust her? What for?

 _If she'd left something a little more specific, that would've helped. A map, maybe? Or a cell phone?_ Maybe not the phone- the distinct lack of windows in the base gave Wally the impression that he was underground. If only he could get that stupid inhibitor collar off; he was low on energy but there was enough for a mad dash to an exit, he would be gone before they knew it. Even better, if his friends burst through the door.

But Wally knew by now that wishful thinking only made the disappointment harder to bear.

And so he waited.

-o-

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-TWENTY FOUR DAYS EARLIER-

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Gunfire crackled in Robin's ears, but he was too used to it to flinch. He had been the first to recover from the explosion and was currently soaring through the air, about to rain terror on a cluster of gun wielding idiots who had not bothered to look up. Their mistake.

Four well placed punches and a scissor kick later, the men were down and Robin was leaping across steel walkways like he'd been practising all his life. Below him, Kaldur and Conner had teamed up in the centre of the warehouse and were fending off attackers, left and right. A dark streak took out a whole chain of armed men and Robin grinned, then winced when the blur ran headlong into a wall.

 _Third time this week_ , he thought to himself, absent mindedly disarming two men and ducking when a third raised a gun and fired where his head had been. The bullets streaked past, harmless, until his head split wide open and the team's screams filled it- over there, M'gann had materialised and was falling, her green skin interrupted by a shock of red. Conner leapt and caught her before she hit the ground, but the telepathic field had been broken. Robin heard Kaldur shout something to Wally:

"-find a way out."

And then his friend was gone, disappearing through a doorway in a flash of red and black.

Robin snapped back into action. To his left, Kaldur swiped his water bearers at Sportsmaster- the man who was probably behind this entire situation. A roar of anguish caught his attention and Robin was running towards it, finding Conner standing over an unconscious M'gann, knocking the advancing mercenaries down with great sweeps of his arms.

"Manoeuvre six!" Robin shouted. Conner turned, saw his teammate sprinting towards him, and held out an arm. The masked boy grabbed it, and Conner used Robin's momentum and his own inhuman strength to spin the pair of them around like a completely non-Olympic approved version of the hammer throw, Robin's legs taking out any nearby goons with guns. Then, just like the hammer throw, he was released.

Robin shot into the air feet first, his trajectory sending him careening straight towards Sportsmaster. Unfortunately, the man in the hockey mask managed to dodge out of the way and Robin rolled on impact, grabbed a couple of explosives from his belt, dropped them, then got as far away as possible. The explosion hit him in the back and propelled him forward another few feet, but Robin managed to stay on his feet and spun around, finding a disappointingly non-blown up Sportsmaster in front of him.

He had just opened his mouth to say something witty when Kaldur appeared from behind the man and knocked him down with a swing of his water bearers. Sportsmaster was back up in an instant, abandoning his knife- was that blood on the blade?- for a heavy looking metal ball attached to a chain. Robin leapt to avoid it taking his head clean off, throwing a volley of batarangs that were either dodged or batted aside with a sharp _clang_. Behind Sportsmaster, Kaldur lost his balance avoiding a stray projectile and missed an opening to strike.

This wasn't working, Robin thought. Without M'gann's telepathic field they could not communicate effectively, and with Wally momentarily gone they were not strong enough to take out the remaining men, let alone Sportsmaster.

"We need to- get out!" He cried, backflipping away to knock out another armed idiot who had gotten a little too trigger happy.

"Kid Flash is searching for an exit." The Atlantean replied, a wave of water shooting from his hands to hit Sportsmaster squarely in the chest. Robin spared a glance back at Conner and M'gann. They were rapidly being overrun by the mercenaries, despite the Kryptonian's best efforts.

"Well, he's taking too damn long!" Robin shouted as he grabbed the heads of two men and slammed them together. "Miss Martian's not looking good, we need to get out. Now."

"Very well then."

With one final blow from his water bearers, Kaldur knocked Sportsmaster back and called out to Conner.

"Superboy! I will take Miss Martian, you must make an exit."

"Make one?" Robin heard the Kryptonian mumble.

"That is correct."

Superboy stopped attacking the waves of armed men long enough to sprint to the nearest wall and - _crash_ \- run straight through it. Robin covered Kaldur while the Atlantean picked up M'gann, who was still unconscious and bleeding profusely.

"We shall reconvene at the bioship." Kaldur told him, running towards the hole Conner had made.

"What about KF?" Robin shouted.

"We will search for Kid Flash when we reach the bioship. He is probably merely disoriented and cannot find his way back."

Robin slowed his pace. He wasn't leaving until he knew a Wally was okay- he had to go back. He left Kaldur, ducking behind stacks of crates to avoid the increasing amount of gunfire. The Atlantean shouted something after him, but there was no way he would follow, he was still holding the injured Martian.

Robin saw the doorway Wally had disappeared into and made a beeline for it. He was almost there when a familiar metal ball swung out of nowhere and would have crushed his skull like an egg if he had not dropped and rolled out of the way.

"Back for round two?" Sportsmaster asked, but Robin was already out of reach, running past him and through the doorway. He jogged halfway down the connecting corridor, following it to the left, before tapping the device on his wrist. Even with M'gann's telepathic field, the team had still started the mission with earpieces for backup communication. Kaldur should be utilising his own quite soon. They came equipped with tracking devices, and on Robin's holographic display he saw four- no, _five_ flickering red dots. Three were clustered together away from the warehouse, another was his own, and Wally's was... just around the corner.

Robin's stomach twisted. Wally's dot wasn't moving.

He sprinted round the corner and had to stop suddenly to avoid a tripwire, positioned at about knee height across the narrow corridor. Stepping over it, Robin checked for signs of life. There was nothing. He walked forwards, until his dot was right on top of Wally's.

 _Where was he?_

Robin looked down to see a tiny cylindrical object, flashing a red light. Well that explained something. He stooped to pick up what he could only assume to be Wally's earpiece, and saw something altogether more worrying.

A great swathe of blood, smeared on the concrete floor.

 _No._ Panic took control as Robin stood and ran to the end of the corridor, taking the left passage and meeting a group of armed goons who had obviously gotten lost. And no Wally.

"Where is he?" He shouted, relieving one man of his gun and using it as a club to take down the others. "Where the hell-"

"Robin. Return to the bioship."

Kaldur had turned his radio on and was speaking in his ear.

Robin kicked the last goon in the solar plexus and carried on. He was stopped by the rattle of gunfire, coming from behind him. A glance back told him there were more men surging around the corners, he was surrounded. Great.

"Return to the bioship, Robin. That is an order." He pulled the communicator out of his ear, that was a distraction he did not need. The men on either side of him began to fire and Robin hit the ground. With a combination of luck and sheer stupidity, the men's bullets sailed over him and hit the opposite group, who were also inadvertently shooting at their own men.

When they were all down, Robin stood, grinning bitterly. He picked his way over the bleeding bodies, his friend had to be here somewhere- but the evidence had pointed him in a direction he liked less every second. No time to waste, Robin's pace picked up and he took another turn at the corridor, a right.

He had little time to react to the sudden shriek of bullets raining past him, and as he backed up to go back up the way he came, a bullet sunk its white hot teeth into his arm. Robin cried out in pain, clutching his upper arm with his other hand. _Need. To. Find. Wally._

He was running back down the corridor, blood trickling down his arm, leaving a trail of blood behind him. A whelming sense of frustration filled him and Robin desperately searched for any clues that would tell him something other than what he knew.

Wally's earpiece on the floor.

Blood smeared across the concrete.

Gone.

He couldn't help his friend, not like this, and though he hated to think it, it would be better this way. Robin took off down the corridor, sprinting back out into the main warehouse, and through the exit Superboy had created, dodging bullets the entire time.

He ran to the bioship, and although he was running to escape the men who followed, guns blazing, it felt like he was running from Wally.

 _I'm sorry,_ he thought, _but I'll find you, I promise._

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Twenty four days later, he was back in the bioship, a different thought at the front of his mind.

 _Hang on, we're coming._

* * *

I just wanted to give an alternate perspective of what happened in the first chapter, plus some people were asking what the others were doing, so here. But I wouldn't expect to see Rob's perspective again, but anything could happen at this point, I guess.


	10. Trust

**Brace yourselves**.

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When the cell door finally opened and half a dozen guards spilled inside, Wally decided to fight. Not the showy punch-them-once-and-run-away style of fighting he had patented, but the teeth baring, knuckle splitting, kick, rip and bite sort of fighting. He attacked like an injured animal with nowhere left to run, and it was half true: there was nowhere for him to go, and it made him desperate. It made him dangerous.

Despite this, the fight did not last long. Wally found himself on the ground, a knee between his shoulder blades, a gun barrel to his throat, and a lazy trickle of blood coming from his nose. They handcuffed him and pulled him to his feet. Something metal jabbed him in the back, and Wally was half walked, half dragged out of the cell, a guard on either side holding him up.

Although ninety nine percent of him was sure that the rest of the team was never coming, he still scoured the concrete hallways for signs of their presence, kept his ears pricked for their voices. And although he felt very much like he was walking to his execution, the Chance card Artemis had left for him was curled up in Wally's closed palm.

If anything, he had hope. And if not that, he trusted Artemis.

Or he hoped he did.

After several minutes, the guards stopped outside a pair of heavy looking steel doors. They pushed him inside and Wally blinked rapidly, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness of the room. It was spacious, with a high ceiling, white painted walls and a tiled floor. The significance of the flooring was made clear when he spotted the metal grate in the corner. He wondered how many other innocent people had been shot in this room, their life's blood washed down that same drain. Wally could smell it, coppery and foul in the air and it made him want to fall to his knees and vomit.

But before he could do anything, the guards tightened their grip on his arms and pushed him towards the centre of the room. At the other end, stood Sportsmaster.

"Anything you'd like to say before you die, kid?" He asked, every word gloating at Wally.

The speedster just stared him down for a minute, then spat. A glob of bloody phlegm splattered onto the tiles between them, and Wally barked a harsh laugh. Anything to hide how truly terrified he was.

Sportsmaster stormed forwards, fists clenched, then stopped. Instead, he moved aside so Wally could see what had been set up behind him. A video camera, mounted on a tripod, the recording light flickering red.

"I thought I'd take the liberty of... capturing the moment." Sportsmaster said, and although his face was not visible, Wally could tell he was grinning. "After all, there are so many people that are wondering where you've been, it would be a shame not to let them know what a great time we've had together."

"Yeah, I was worried they'd gotten the wrong impression." Wally said dryly, using his words as a distraction from his hands, which were currently pushing the Chance card into the lock on his handcuffs. He hoped that the guards behind him, at the back of the room, did not notice. Trading words with Sportsmaster also gave him time to pick said lock, and more than anything, Wally needed time.

But before he could say anything else, the doors at the end of the room burst open, and Wally whipped his head around to see Artemis, accompanied by two more guards. He felt himself light up, then fear struck when he saw the bow in her hand, the quiver on her back full of arrows. Her eyes refused to meet his.

"Nice of you to join us, baby girl." Her father greeted her.

"I was busy." Artemis replied cooly. Still, she would not look Wally in the eye.

"Well, it would be a shame for you to miss this opportunity. Figuratively or literally." Sportsmaster said, then turned to Wally.

"If you try anything, my men will fire."

"No offence, but your trained monkeys couldn't hit a tree in a forest, let alone a moving target." Wally said, working at the chance card, trying to twist it to unlock the cuffs. He realised then that even if he did manage to get his hands free, there was nowhere to go. He was surrounded, outmanned, outgunned and as a bonus, now everybody in the room apart from Artemis looked thoroughly pissed at him.

"Woah guys, take it easy." Wally continued. "It's just constructive criticism."

"Unless you have anything of importance to say," Sportsmaster said. "You can shut up."

He was so close, Wally could feel the lock shifting, he just had to delay a little while longer. A tiny part of him still believed in Artemis, but he had stopped trying to catch her eye when she never caught his.

"No no no, hang on." He stalled. "I'm curious- how long have you been into home videos?"

Sportsmaster looked impatient.

"Nice try, but we aren't wasting any more time here."

Wally's heart sank. The lock was as immovable as it had been before he tried picking it. He was out of time.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." He shrugged.

Sportsmaster took a step back. "You're up, baby girl." He said to Artemis.

Slowly, Artemis reached behind her, and pulled an arrow from her quiver. Dread sank its claws into Wally's chest. He knew how sharp those arrows were, he knew how long Artemis had spent sharpening them. He knew how easily they would slide between his ribs.

Artemis slotted the arrow into her bow, and raised it.

 _I trusted you,_ thought Wally, but he was too scared to be angry. Just disappointed.

Panic made Wally's heart speed up until he felt his pulse in his eardrums. He closed his eyes, thinking it would help, but it just made the tension more unbearable.

 _Think of something else,_ Wally thought, and immediately he was met with the faces of his teammates. They'd be first to see the camera footage. He could imagine them now- it would break them apart, and Rob- Dick, he would take it the worst.

Wally opened his eyes.

Artemis had drawn back the bowstring, the fletching of the arrow brushing against her cheek.

The silence roared, and Wally let out a shaky breath.

 _It's okay,_ he told himself. _Just breathe._

He thought of his parents. Their relationship with him was strained at best, but he could still picture how it would feel, losing a son.

And Aunt Iris- no. Wally didn't dare imagine her face when the inevitable news came.

Uncle Barry would be the one to tell her, _oh god,_ he'd be distraught.

He'd blame himself for what had happened.

Back in the present, Wally steeled himself.

He wondered how Artemis' hands stayed so steady.

 _I'm sorry_ , he thought.

The arrow was aimed at his throat.

 _I am so, so sorry._

Wally's breathing quickened, his heart hammering at his chest as the silence reached a crescendo.

Artemis fired.


	11. Freefall

This is the longest time I have gone without updating, but I promise it's worth it. Thank you to everyone who has left reviews, you are all wonderful and supportive and you are 99% of the reason why I keep writing. Go you!

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Wally's breathing quickened, his heart hammering at his chest as the silence reached a crescendo.

Artemis fired.

The arrow thudded into his inhibitor collar with a _crack._ Both clattered to the ground a second later, just as light left the room in a shower of sparks, leaving Wally blinking in the darkness. A shout, and then the air erupted into noise and flickering gunfire. Wally felt a hand grab his upper arm but before he could shake it off he was being dragged through the darkness, stumbling over his feet.

"I think the door is this way."

He recognised the voice immediately, and the weight of his shoulders and all the fear and anguish he had harboured inside him dissipated.

Artemis.

She loosened her grip on him for a moment then he was pushed through a door, the fluorescent light stinging his eyes.

"You..." He started, but Artemis cut him off.

"We need to get out of here." She said, eyeing the door they had just came through nervously.

An idea sparked in Wally's mind.

"Gimme a moment." His fingers trailed back to the lock on the handcuffs he had been working on. Just twist a little... there. The handcuffs clicked and released his wrists, and Wally wasted no time locking them onto the double door handles. Doors which jolted violently just as he finished.

"That should give us-"

"About thirty seconds, let's go."

Artemis snatched his wrist and the pair sprinted down the hallway. They had made two lefts and a right, and then Wally swore his eardrums almost perforated when a siren shrieked through the air and the lights went from bright white to flashing red.

A couple of guards appeared from around the corner and Artemis pulled an arrow from her quiver, aimed and let loose in one fluid motion. Wally sped ahead and took the other one down, relishing the feeling of his speed, the addictive burn of adrenaline in his veins.

When Artemis caught up, she was panting.

"I can carry you, we'll go faster." Wally offered.

Artemis frowned. "You don't know the way out."

"Uh." Movement caught Wally's eye from behind Artemis and before she could react he had scooped her up and was streaking away, bullets skimming the walls beside them. "Sorry- just tell me which way to go."

"Straight on, then second right." Artemis said through gritted teeth, drawing back another arrow as she attempted to shoot over his shoulder. She must have found her mark, because the bullets stopped just as they rounded the corner.

Wally slowed, his head clouding. He hadn't eaten very much over a long period of time, and his super speed ate through his energy conserves like he ate ice cream. When his vision cleared he saw that the turn had led them into an aircraft hangar, complete with various small planes.

"We're escaping in one of these?" He asked, his eagerness diluting the panic, but only a fraction.

"Unless you know how to fly a jet, no." Artemis replied curtly, jogging towards the far end of the hangar when Wally put her down. "And if I'm honest, I can't picture you working any sort of aircraft without it blowing up."

"I don't see the bioship complaining." Wally grumbled, but followed Artemis.

They had just passed a Cessna (Wally struggled not to scoff) when shouting from the end of the hangar alerted the pair. Artemis just managed to grab Wally and pull him behind the fuselage before bullets ripped through the space he had just been standing.

"We're trapped." Wally said, watching more and more armed men pouring into the hangar, cutting him and Artemis off from any possible escape route. A bullet parted his hair, an inch from splitting his head open and he took that as a sign to duck back down behind the plane.

"No, we're not." Artemis shot four consecutive arrows in the time it took Wally to inhale. "There's a control panel on the wall behind us. Just run to it, open the hangar doors and we're out."

"Uh, yeah... slight problem." Wally said, starting to sway on his feet. "I'm not feeling so great, and I'd really hate to inconvenience you by passing out."

Artemis huffed.

"Right. In three seconds, we'll run over there, and take cover behind the Blackhawk."

Wally flinched when a bullet pinged off the metalwork of the Cessna particularly close to him, then nodded. Then he frowned.

"Wait, what's happening in three-"

 ** _BOOM._**

Orange light filled Wally's vision and he had just enough time to get a proper look- one of the aircraft at the far end had erupted into an orange fireball- and then Artemis had her vice of a hand on his arm and he was pulled across the line of fire, then to safety.

Or something like safety.

It took ten seconds for the firing to resume, and Wally could see the control panel behind them. It was a sixty, seventy foot dash there and back. Maybe he could make it, but maybe was a dangerous word. He turned to Artemis, an arrow already primed in her bow.

"What. The. Hell. Was. That?" He asked, almost grinning.

"Incendiary arrow." Artemis replied, absent mindedly. Wally almost couldn't hear her over the ringing in his ears. "Didn't think that plane had so many missiles, though."

"Do you have any more?"

"You're lucky I even had one."

A quick glance to the side showed that the guards were gaining ground faster than Artemis could take them down, and Wally desperately searched for something to do. If only they had another exploding arrow, they could blow up another plane as a distraction and... Wait.

"How often are these planes refueled?" Wally shouted over the clang of metal on metal.

"No idea." Artemis replied, not even looking at him.

He persisted. "How much jet fuel do you think will be in the tank?"

Suddenly understanding what he proposed, Artemis froze on the spot.

"Not happening." She said. "No way. Absolutely not."

"Well, it's either that or dying!" Stress was wearing Wally thin, and Artemis must have noticed because she relented a second later.

"There's an opening at the tail end. Twist it off."

Wally followed her instructions, careful to keep most of his body behind the fuselage. The cap of the fuel tank came off and a clear liquid began to seep out, dripping onto the hangar floor, the scent of jet fuel heavy in the air.

"Okay, now what?" Artemis asked. "It's not gonna catch by itself."

"Does it look like I think that far ahead?" Wally retorted, scouring the hangar for anything, anything that could somehow start a fire. They were running out of time.

He glanced back at the growing puddle of fuel just in time to see a bullet graze the underside of the plane and send out a spray of sparks. In the stroke of a heartbeat, flames were gnawing at the floor, dangerously close to the fuel tank and Wally had just enough time to grab Artemis and run like hell before his vision whited out.

The rest of what happened Wally remembered in snapshots.

Ringing in his ears, Artemis nowhere to be seen, blistered skin.

If he could just reach that control panel...

Through dust stung eyes, he saw the hangar door burst open. From the outside.

He was so very tired.

Shouts- familiar voices, hands rolling him over, pulling him up.

"Wally, we're here, wake up."

 _Rob?_

His shellshocked mind managed to recognise his team, fending off Shadows. Robin took his weight when they stood.

"We need to get him out of here."

Darkness outside, cold air, fresh air, _sweet_ air.

Was that Batman?

He was so, so tired.

A red blur careened into him and arms wrapped around his shoulders. He knew that voice:

"It's okay kid, you'll be okay."

And there- over Barry's shoulder, he saw her.

Artemis.

Half in, half out of the shadows, and afraid.

Their eyes met.

His mouth opened.

She turned and ran.

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So you can probably tell, this is not over yet. Not by a long shot. However, the next few chapters probably won't be as action packed as the last, you'll just have to bear with me. Again, I love to read everybody's reviews, it really makes my day!


	12. Liar Liar

**I've been busy recently, so this is a written-at-one-in-the-morning special that I hope you enjoy.**

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Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Disinfectant stained the air, stinging Wally's nostrils as he resurfaced to consciousness. He felt sheets under his fingertips, and when he opened his eyes to look around he immediately screwed them shut, the overhead lights glaring white.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

A groan rattled in his throat. Why did everything hurt? He tried to move but his limbs were heavy and numb. Voices tickled his ears, and Wally strained to work out what they were saying.

"...waking up, look."

"Shhh, you don't wanna..."

Recognition hit him like a freight train, he knew those voices-

"Hey, KF."

Wally's eyes snapped open. He was lying on a hospital bed, hooked up to an ECG monitor and some sort of IV fluid. Leaning over him, eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses was-

"Rob?"

The boy flashed a trademark grin.

"The one and only."

Wally felt his own mouth curl into a smile. He tried to sit up a second time, but gasped when pain ignited across his arms.

"Take it easy, kid." A hand gently pushed him back down, and Wally glanced up at its owner. Barry had his Flash uniform on, but the mask was pulled back from his face. There were tired swathes of violet under his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like I went through a meat grinder." Wally grimaced, inspecting his arms and finding more bandage than skin. He was about to ask how the bandages came to be, but all of a sudden there was a flurry of voices and Wally craned his neck to see who they belonged to.

"-look, look, he's awake!"

"Is he able to speak?"

"I don't know, you ask."

Kaldur, M'gann and Conner had appeared in the doorway, all wearing varying expressions of delight, worry and relief.

"Hey guys." Wally called, gingerly waving an arm.

M'gann flew to his side, next to Robin, her smile wide and bright.

"Wally! We were all so worried about you!" She exclaimed, clasping her hands together in enthusiasm. Conner nodded from behind her shoulder.

From the back of the room, Kaldur stepped forward. "It is good to have you back, old friend."

"It's good to be back." Said Wally, but the words felt wrong as he said them. There was something at the back of his mind, something he was forgetting and it irked him.

"We should have a party to celebrate!" M'gann said, the excitement in her voice almost tangible. "We can invite the league- I'll bake something- we can have balloons and streamers and-"

"That's a great idea, but what Wally needs right now is rest." Barry interrupted, his attention switching from the enthused Martian to his protégé. "You were hurt pretty badly in that explosion, I don't want to make anything worse."

His words struck a chord with Wally. _Explosion? When had he been in an- Ah._ It was all coming back now. The scent of aviation fuel, adrenaline in his veins. Bullets shrieking past him. Running until his legs gave out.

An archer.

"Wait." He called to his friends, who were slowly slinking away. They stopped and turned. "Where is she?"

Kaldur looked at him like he'd gone insane. Maybe he had.

"Where is who?" Asked the Atlantean.

"Artemis," Wally said. "Where is she?"

An uneasy silence settled in the room.

"Dude, kind of a weird time to start looking for the goddess of the hunt." Said Rob, cracking at a joke.

Nobody laughed.

 _Oh, no._ Now he remembered. She had turned and ran at the last moment.

 _Please, no._ She could be anywhere by now, and the Shadows would be after her.

All eyes were on Wally, who was quickly becoming more and more frantic.

"She was there when you rescued me." He said. His eyes flitted to each of his team members but none would meet his eye. "She was right there- we escaped together, she saved my life!"

"Wally." Barry's voice was soft, like he was trying to calm a frightened animal. "You've been through a lot, and you need to get some rest. It's okay to be a little bit confused-"

"I'm not confused!" The sudden increase in volume made the team flinch. "She's the reason I'm still alive, and she's probably being hunted down right now!"

He sat up, ignoring the protests of his aching limbs and tried to club off the hospital bed. Barry stopped him.

"Please, just lie back down."

"They'll kill her! Please, I have to find Artemis, I promised-"

"Wally, don't make this more difficult than it has to be. Just relax and we can talk about this."

Wally was very quiet for a moment. Then he nodded, but stayed sitting up.

"Who is Artemis?" Barry asked.

"A girl, my age." Wally struggled to keep his voice steady.

"And you say she escaped with you?"

"She's the reason I made it out of there alive." Wally said with conviction.

Barry looked thoughtful. "Was she a prisoner too?"

 _Uh oh._ Wally bit his lip. There was no easy way to say it.

 _Here goes nothing_ , he thought.

"No. She was a Shadow."

The reaction was instant.

Barry stood, his face bearing an expression that Wally couldn't quite place. M'gann and Conner's mouths dropped open and Kaldur's brow furrowed with deep concern. Beside him, Rob did a double-take, then leaned forward, asking:

"What!?"

Wally scrambled to explain. "No, she didn't want to- it wasn't her choice, Sportsmaster forced her into it."

His teammates continued to stare at him in disbelief.

"She's not a Shadow anymore, though, she's good. And right now, she needs our help."

Wally's appeal was lost on the five other people in the room, who continued to stare, dumbfounded.

After a long silence, Barry spoke.

"I need to talk to Batman." He said quietly, and in a blur of red he was gone.

The others made feeble excuses, until only Rob was left, staring at Wally but not quite meeting his eye.

"You believe me, right?" Wally asked, hesitant.

He saw Robin's jaw tense.

"Right now, I'm not so sure." The younger boy muttered. "You were gone for a long time, and I don't know if you're the same guy you were two months ago."

Wally did not reply, and merely watched his best friend slip out of the door.

The glow he had felt five minutes ago was gone. Even now, after everything he had been through, he was alone.

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 **Hopefully my late night scrawling is the same standard as my usual writing- I just wanted to get this bit over with so things can get a bit _juicier_. Mind you, the next couple of chapters will be a little slow (in action and uploading) so don't worry if it takes me a while. **

**Also- I would like to thank everybody for leaving lovely reviews. It seriously warms my tiny, shrivelled heart. Internet hugs to all of you.**

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	13. Conscience

Okay, so I wasn't planning on uploading this for at least another week, but I had nothing else to do and I wrote a decent amount and found a good place to finish, so I'm just going to leave this here. (You can probably tell I have a weakness for loud, messy emotional arguments).

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Wally finished his third tub of ice cream and tossed it to the side with the other two cartons. He had stopped tasting chocolate brownie five minutes ago, and would never had even started eating if M'gann hadn't explicitly told him to. The Martian was the only member of the team who had been to see him since he woke, and it _stung_.

But it wasn't just the isolation that bothered Wally, it was the lack of action. No doubt by now the Shadows were conducting a full manhunt for Artemis, and if she hadn't been caught already, it was just a matter of time. The frustration had made him agitated and there was only so much more stress he could take before he snapped.

The door opened, and Wally's eyes cut to the person entering the medical bay. It was Rob, and he was pushing an empty wheelchair in front of him.

"Batman wants to speak with you in the mission room," he said, somewhat awkwardly.

He walked up to the hospital bed and moved to help Wally up, but was shaken off.

"I just wanted to-"

"I'm fine. I can walk." Wally insisted, climbing out of bed and trying not to show how much his legs were shaking.

They walked in silence.

When they finally reached the mission room, Wally was surprised to see the rest of the team clustered around a holographic screen, Batman tapping at a keyboard. He tried to ignore the weight of their combined gaze on him, and picked at the bandages on his arms instead.

Eventually, Batman spoke. "Kid Flash."

"I'm not wearing the suit, so it's Wally." He replied. M'gann had brought him a change of clothes earlier, and while the familiarity of old jeans and a Tshirt was comforting, they hung off him like his limbs were made of wire.

"You claim to know a Shadow by the name of Artemis, is this correct?" Batman asked, ignoring Wally's comments.

"Yeah."

The caped vigilante tapped at the keyboard again, bringing up a slightly grainy black and white image of a girl onto the holographic screen. It looked like a still from a CCTV recording, and it was undoubtedly Artemis. Wally felt his heart jump a little. Maybe they had listened after all, maybe they had decided to go looking...

"Is this Artemis?"

"Yes- have you found her? Where is she, is she okay-" Wally started, but was interrupted.

"This is camera footage taken from Star labs, last year."

The image zoomed out, showing Artemis half hidden behind a wall, a guard just down the corridor. Dread seeped into Wally, he knew how this would end, but he could not look away; all eyes in the room were on him. The video started, and Artemis leaped from around the corner, shooting the guard straight through the jugular. He went down, spray of blood soaking into the floor beneath him as Artemis pulled out another arrow and shot directly at the camera.

The screen went black.

"I... Sportsmaster was making her go on missions, she didn't choose to..." Wally trailed off as another video started playing.

"Nine months ago, Paris."

It was a bank, and a group of men were standing over cowering civilians, waving guns around. Artemis stepped into the frame and appeared to be giving out orders- most of the men quickly split off from the group and through a door, leaving her with just a few spare goons to command.

The archer appeared to relax for a moment, then spun around and fired an arrow in the time it took Wally to blink. A bank employee was crouched next to a desk, her hand inches away from what looked like a panic button. She probably would have pressed it, had there not been an arrow sticking through the palm of her hand, pinning it to the side of a desk. The woman's face twisted in agony, and Artemis turned away.

Wally looked at the floor, trying to ignore the murmurs enamating from the rest of the team.

"She's changed, she's not like that anymore-"

"Beijing, six months ago."

The image changed to a large hall, then flickered to life. Wally watched, his throat tight-fisted, as an arrow hit the centre of the room and exploded. In the chaos that ensued, a figure jumped down from the ceiling, bow in hand, another arrow already loaded. The archer had taken out at least a dozen men before the smoke cleared, and Wally did not need to see her face to know that it was Artemis. The video ended, and Wally stood alone in front of his friends.

"She's not a bad person... she had a mission right before I was caught and she refused to kill someone, the only reason I'm still alive right now is because of her."

He sounded limp, and it was because, inside Wally's mind, Artemis was killing those innocent people on a loop. Over and over and over again, she lifted that bow, aimed, and fired.

From the cluster of teammates, Kaldur stepped forward.

"We know you suffered terrible trauma at the hands of the Shadows, and the last thing we want to do is ignore that, and any... psychological problems you may be facing."

It made a lot of sense now.

"You think I'm crazy." Wally said. He took a step back.

 _This is not happening. No way._

"The evidence is quite clear; Artemis is a Shadow." Said Batman. "And regardless of whatever you think may have occurred during your imprisonment, we do not prioritise the wellbeing of our enemies over pending missions. Black Canary is on hand and she is willing to help you through this."

Wally searched the faces of his fellow teammates for understanding, maybe even support, but he found none. Desperate, he locked eye contact with his oldest friend.

"Please, Rob, you have to believe me."

The boy cast a wary glance to Batman, then Wally.

"I'm sorry, but the tapes don't lie." His voice was laced with pity and it made Wally nauseous.

How could everything be going so wrong, so fast? Why wouldn't they believe him?

Rob took a small step towards Wally, like he was trying to calm a frightened animal. "Wally, you need help, you're not yourself."

"No- you don't understand." He couldn't believe this was happening, it was like some awful nightmare come true. "Please, just hear me out..."

"We are doing this for you." Kaldur reminded him.

Feeling sick, Wally turned and ran. He got to the doors but his legs went limp before he could get out, his head spinning. Rob started to run over-

"Wally, wait-"

But Wally had scrambled to his feet and was sprinting out of the mission room, down the hallway, past the Medbay, making a sharp left into the souvenir room. He was leaning heavily against a wall, panting, when Robin ran through the door.

"Wally, I-"

"Does none of this count for anything?" Wally interrupted, one arm freely gesturing to the wall of objects the pair had collected over the years. He didn't give Robin the chance to answer, and began to tear off the bandages on his arms, the gauze taped over the left side of his face.

"What about this?"

The bandages fell to the floor as Wally stood, trembling with some noxious blend of anguish and frustration, his arms by his sides, palms out. His bruises glowed, only just beginning to fade, and his skin was pink and raw where the heat of the explosion had burned him.

He caught Robin glancing away.

"Look at me! I went through hell for you, I was starved and threatened and tortured for weeks, Rob, _weeks,_ and I could've made it all stop by telling them what they wanted, but I never did. Do you know why?"

His friend still wouldn't meet his eye.

"Just look at me, Dick!" That worked, and Robin stared at him, shocked. "The only thing that kept me from giving in entirely was the thought that any moment you'd run in and save me. That's what you're supposed to do, right?"

"I'm sorry." Muttered Robin.

"But you never did, and the longer I spent waiting for you to come, the more I thought you'd forgotten about me. Is that why you don't believe me? Do you just not care?" His words were all running together now, a constant stream of trapped rage that had managed to escape and fly from his mouth while his best friend just stood there, frozen. "What did I ever do to you, Dick?"

"Wally, I'm sorry."

There was a deep sense of shame in Robin's words, and Wally felt something shudder and break inside him. He couldn't breathe, his back hit the wall and he slid to the floor, streams of hot tears trailing down his cheeks.

"They hurt me, in there. They really, really hurt me, and all I had was Artemis and now she's gone and you won't even help me find her, she was the only good in that hell and you're letting her die, it's not right and it's not fair and it's not... _you_." Wally dragged his knees up to his chest and hugged them with knuckle-whitening force. He felt so, so small.

Robin's feet appeared in his field of view as he approached, and then his friend was sat beside him, an arm over his shoulder.

"I wish I could go back and stop them ever taking you, I swear." He sounded sincere, but Wally was too cautious to be fooled twice.

"You left me to die in there, Dick, you can't do that to her, too."

A pause.

"Do you really think she's worth saving?"

Wally looked up, finally in control of his teary eyes and shaking lower lip.

"I know she is."

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I would've liked to carry this on a little longer, but that seemed like a nice place to end, so there you go. I'm hoping to post a longer chapter next, but be prepared for a long wait. As always, thank you to everyone who posted a review, you are glorious creatures of rainbows and sparkles, I love you all.


	14. Stockholm Syndrome

Yoooooo- to all of you people complaining about how short the chapters are, I hear you. And I would have elected to ignore you but this chapter actually came out longer than intended(longest ever, yaaaa)- there was meant to be a little bit extra but then the kitchen thing happened and I just ran away with the word count, so lucky you.

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Wally let Rob and the rest of the team lead him back to the medical bay, a silent thoughtfulness following the group. This time they did not leave, but quietly asked if he was okay, if there was anything they could do to help, and if he needed anything. M'gann offered to make cookies, but Wally did not feel like eating anything. Kaldur apologised, but Wally was not sure what for.

A silence settled and he fidgeted with the IV line before noticing the glances shared between the others. The familiar twitches in facial expressions, the change in body language for no visible reason; Wally recognised it immediately.

They were having a psychic conversation- without him.

Any last dregs of optimism left him then, and Wally fumbled for something to say but he came up short. He just fiddled with the IV for a couple more minutes before blurting out a simple: "I'd like to be alone now," and then they were gone.

It had hurt when they did not believe him, but it hurt worse when they did not trust him.

The following morning, Rob came in with breakfast (a heaped plate of bacon, eggs and toast) and news.

"Black Canary wants to see you today." He said evenly.

Wally nodded, his mouth full of breakfast food. It wasn't a surprise as she had been mentioned the day before, but Wally still felt a tiny jump of hope. Maybe someone believed him, maybe Black Canary wanted to help find Artemis, maybe finally, finally, he was getting somewhere.

When he finished his food- five minutes, far slower than his usual- Rob walked him to the room Black Canary used for her 'talks' with team members. It had usually been mundane conversations about thoughts and feelings that took place in there, so Wally was accustomed to dodging awkward questions and blagging off the rest.

He took a deep breath, and stepped through the door.

"Hello Wally." Black Canary greeted him, sat in her usual spot. "Have a seat."

Wally perched on the only available chair, directly in front of her. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor, Black Canary's gaze bearing hot on his skin.

"Do you want a snack?"

On the coffee table between them were bowls of chips, popcorn, sweets. Any other time and Wally would have fallen on them like a starving man. Now, they just made his stomach turn.

"I already ate." He mumbled.

"Wally, we're worried about you." Black Canary's voice was the perfect balance between sympathetic and disproving. "You don't look well; you have to eat more."

Wally gave up trying to argue and picked a bowl of popcorn off the table. Slowly, he picked up a piece, placed it in his mouth, and began to chew. It was sickly sweet, and he swallowed it with a grimace before looking up at his stand-in psychologist.

She pursed her lips, then spoke.

"How do you feel?"

"Fine." Wally answered, a little too quickly. "I feel fine."

Black Canary looked unimpressed.

"Wally, you can tell me the truth. Nothing you say in here has to leave this room, okay? This is private." She leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees, hands clasped together. "Really, how do you feel?"

 _Time to let it all out_ , Wally thought.

"Like crap." He didn't wait for Black Canary to prompt him further. "Like I haven't slept well in weeks- I still can't. And when I do, I have nightmares. Do you know who gets nightmares? Kids. Stupid five year olds that are afraid of the dark, not someone like me."

A shaky breath escaped Wally's lungs, but he wasn't finished. He hadn't realised just how much of his feelings he had been bottling up, just ready to release.

"And I ache all over; even though the bruises are fading and everything's healing I still _ache._ I can't run like I used to, I feel nauseous if I move too fast and I'm so much weaker now. I hate feeling like this, I thought I was supposed to get better."

Absent-mindedly, he ran a hand through his hair, catching his fingers on the knots.

"And I just feel like nobody cares, like I was gone for so long and nobody even bothered looking for me. Did I even matter? I finally come back and all I ask is for people to just _listen_ to me and they freak out. I haven't seen Uncle Barry since I woke up, and the team's too busy talking behind my back to do anything to help. I went through _hell_ , y'know? I went through hell and it's like no one gives a damn."

Spent, Wally pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged himself. His eyes wandered to Black Canary, who was looking at him like he was a wounded animal.

"I know how you feel." She started, with careful, measured words. "And you shouldn't blame yourself for what has happened, it isn't your fault. But it also isn't the fault of your teammates that it took us so long to rescue you."

Wally frowned, and Black Canary continued.

"You may recall that M'gann was shot in the warehouse that night. She still won't walk if she can fly, the injury makes her limp. Robin was slightly better off, the bullet hole in his arm was just a flesh wound, it did not cause any long term damage. But both took time to heal."

"Rob didn't tell me about that." Wally muttered, his eyes downcast.

"Because he feels guilty about it, their injuries delayed the search. It was fortunate that you managed to send us that distress signal, or we never would have found you."

Wally looked up sharply. "What distress signal?"

It was Black Canary's turn to be confused.

"The night of your rescue- the watchtower received an encrypted message, coming from the north of Gotham. It told us where you were being held... we assumed you were the one who sent it."

"No, I never sent a signal." Said Wally. _But who did?_ His mind flitted to the only person it could possibly be.

"Artemis!" He blurted out, and suddenly it all made sense. "She left me right before they were about to kill me- she must have sent the message."

"Just hold on a moment-" Black Canary struggled to regain control of the situation.

"You have to help her now, she helped you find me!" He waved his arms, frantic; this was his last chance to be believed.

"Wally, please, let's talk about this before we do anything irrational."

Wally settled back down. He waited for his hopes to be crushed again.

"About Artemis..." Black Canary began, "Did Batman show you the video files on her?"

Wally nodded.

The woman in front of him sighed, and muttered, "I told him not to." Then she looked back up at Wally. "And you still want to find her?"

He didn't quite know what to say.

"Uh..." _Great start_. "You see, I already knew all that stuff about Artemis. Because she told me. And she looked out for me, when I was... there, so I trust her, and I know that's not who she is." He fidgeted with his hands, then matched his gaze up with Black Canary's. "She risked her life for me- more than once, and isn't that what we're all about? Saving people? I know, she's done some terrible things, but she didn't have a choice, and now she's in danger and we need to do something. Please."

His appeal seemed to have an effect of Black Canary, and she seemed to stop for a moment and think. She leaned forward.

"Wally, I know you're upset. You've been through a lot, and it's going to make you say things you wouldn't normally say," _No-_ "Or do things you wouldn't have done otherwise." _Oh, no._ "I don't think-" Wally knew where she was heading.

"So you're not going to do anything? You're the Justice League, you're supposed to help people!" He exploded, standing up and throwing out his arms. "Artemis looked after me, she could have been killed for it but she did it anyway. And now she needs our help and you're just sitting here, doing nothing!"

"You're talking about a Shadow, Wally. Just sit down."

His face turned to stone and the speedster lowered his arms but stayed standing, indignant.

"I'm talking about the girl who saved my life."

Black Canary stood, but she wasn't cold or angry. The look she wore on her face was pity, and it made Wally seethe.

"I'm sorry you had to go through what you did. Really, I am." She put a hand on his shoulder. "And it's up to me to provide a diagnosis on your mental state. The trauma, combined with long term isolation... Wally, I hate to say it, but we're looking at Stockholm Syndrome."

He stared at her, dumbfounded, his hands shaking with either shock or rage.

 _This wasn't happening. This was not happening._

"You dont get it, do you?" He asked, quiet. "You don't fucking get it."

As if she could read his mind, Black Canary stood, one arm out to stop him.

"Just wait, we can talk about-"

He was gone before she could finish her sentence. The cave passed by Wally in a blur and he shook off the sick feeling associated with his super speed, he had to get away from all this, he had to go find Artemis; even if it meant going alone. Within a heartbeat he was at the zeta tubes in the mission room, just listening for the familiar mechanic voice: _Kid Flash. B03-_

Nothing happened.

Panic surged in his veins, and Wally quickly backed up before running over the threshold.

No bright lights, no voice, no nothing.

A second later, Black Canary appeared across the room, panting slightly.

"Wally, just sit down and we can talk about this!" She shouted, but her words bounced off him.

 _Stupid,_ he cursed himself. _Stupid to trust her, stupid to think they'd believe you, stupid stupid stupid._

"Why won't you let me leave?" He yelled back.

"We just wanted to keep you safe, you're not behaving like yourself."

Wally was seething. _This was wrong._ Black Canary began to walk closer, her hands up like she was trying to tame some kind of wild animal. _Maybe she is_ , thought Wally, and then blind rage gripped him and he was running again, past the woman before she had even registered any movement, down the twists and turns and hallways that led to the team's live-in quarters of the cave.

He wanted to break something. Maybe lots of things. And he wanted to do it right _now._

Wally reached the kitchen in an anger-fueled clamour and blur, opening cupboard doors so fast he ripped one clean off its hinges and it flew across the room, crashing into a wall. He didn't even blink, just grabbed a stack of plates and threw them all to the ground, relishing the ear-splitting **crash** they made on impact. But it wasn't enough.

He had moved on to the glasses and was launching them all at the far wall when the noise drew out his teammates from their rooms. Robin had to duck to avoid a frisbeeing plate heading in his direction, and M'gann used her telekinesis to reroute some cutlery away from Kaldur and Conner. The four watched silently as Wally tore apart the kitchen at an inhuman speed.

He had just moved on to pots and pans when Wally felt a lurch- for a moment he was back to normal speed and a large wok slipped out of his hands and hit the tiled floor with a resonating **bang** sound- and then he was up to speed again, flinging a saucepan so hard it took out a light fitting in a shower of sparks. The destruction was satisfying, but it did nothing to calm him down.

Wally barely noticed Robin approaching, he was too busy pulling bags of flour out of cupboards and slamming them into the countertop. They exploded in clouds of white fog.

"Hey-"

Another gut-wrenching lurch hit Wally, worse than the last time, but not enough to stop him wrecking things. He didn't even register his best friend's voice. His hands pulled the fridge door open and numbly, he upended a carton of eggs. The shaking was getting worse, the nausea returned tenfold. In the distance, he thought he heard Black Canary shouting.

Robin edged closer just as Wally found the knife block.

"Wally? Are you okay?"

He dodged a meat cleaver, the blade brushing the side of his head before burying itself, hilt-deep, into the wall behind him. A bread knife followed a split second later and Robin had to duck behind the counter to get closer to his friend.

"Wally! Stop, before someone gets hurt!"

It worked. Maybe it was the desperation in Rob's voice, or maybe it was the lightheaded, stomach-sick feeling growing inside Wally that made him pause for breath. Either way, the chaos stopped, and Robin emerged from behind the cupboards, his hands up.

"We need to talk, you're not well."

Wally flashed a snarl. "And whose fault is that?"

Immediately, he felt bad. Rob's shoulders sank slightly, but their eyes remained locked together.

"Just sit down, I know we haven't been fair with you. We're only trying to help."

"Help me?" Wally said, just loud enough to hear. Then his voice rose in volume until he was roaring. "You have done nothing to help me since I got back!" He tore open the last cupboard and snatched at the contents. "Everything you've done has made-" A colander whizzed through the air. "-something-" It was followed by an electric whisk. "- _worse._ " On the last word, Wally threw a blender to the ground, where it shattered.

Realising just how close everyone was and how claustrophobic he felt, Wally turned and ran. Or started to, anyway. He had barely taken two steps at super speed before another lurch hit him in the gut and his vision clouded.

The last thing Wally saw before he lost consciousness was the ground, rushing up towards him.

Wally woke up in the medical bay, with Black Canary pulling broken pieces of glass out of his arm.

"Don't move." She warned, a pair of tweezers in her hand.

Wally looked away and saw Rob hunched in the far corner, watching him. He did not return the weak smile his friend sent, just a cold glare.

Eventually, Black Canary finished bandaging the arm worse off- most probably the one he had landed on- and let out a sigh.

"Wally, you can't go on like this. You're not just hurting yourself, you're risking the others around you, and it isn't fair."

Wally continued to stare straight ahead. For a moment, he felt her gaze on his shoulder, where the fabric had ripped and the raised scar from Sportsmaster's knife was visible. And then, quite suddenly, she stood and looked over at Rob.

"Robin, a quick word please."

The pair walked out of the room, but stopped right outside the door because Wally could hear their voices, low and fast. He strained to make out the individual words.

"Dangerous... but necessary."

"...not a risk worth taking."

"But is it?...we need to..."

"No. Absolutely not."

"...okay."

There were a few seconds of silence, then Robin walked back into the room, alone. Hurriedly, Wally tried to act casual, pushing a hand into his hair. He immediately regretted it when he pulled his hand away to find it covered in a transparent slime.

"What-"

"I think that's a bit of egg." Rob grinned, and Wally felt a pang of loss. His frustration for not finding Artemis only just overrode the friendship that the pair of them shared, or _had_ shared, and he almost smiled back. Almost.

"Listen." Said Rob, walking over to where Wally lay. "I just want you to know, whatever happens, whatever Bats or Canary or the rest of the team says, I got your back. I know you might not feel like that's how it is, but you just need to trust me."

There were a hundred spiteful things Wally could have said, but Robin's last two words resonated in his mind. _Trust me_. He had heard those two words before, from a different person, and those two words had saved his life.

"Okay." Wally said.

Rob did a sort of double-take, and blinked for a moment before continuing.

"Because... I want to help you. With Artemis."

It was Wally's turn to look confused.

"What...?"

"Wally, I want to help you find Artemis."

Wally's breath caught in his throat and he only just managed to choke out a:

" _What?"_

"The others don't know, I want to keep it that way, for now." Rob bit his lip, then looked straight at his best friend. "I mean, we need to be a bit... covert about this, you know how the others feel."

Wally nodded. They didn't understand.

"So you're really going to help me?" He asked, afraid he might wake up at any moment.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard to find a teenage assassin in Gotham city, right?" Rob grinned, and this time, Wally grinned with him. "We can start now, if you want... but you should probably have a shower first. I hate to think about what that egg's gonna smell like in a couple of hours."

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Hope you liked the more optimistic ending this time. But will everything turn out okay? Idk I'm kinda making this up as I go along but anyways, thanks to the cuties that leave reviews. You are glorious space mermaids and I cannot thank you enough. Seriously, I would have stopped before the second chapter without you guys. Also- I'm gonna be away for like, the next three weeks, so you'll either get a short chapter in a week or so, or one helluva chapter in August. Depends on how lazy I feel.


	15. Deliverance

**And I was here thinking I'd never get round to posting it.**

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"We aren't getting anywhere."

"We're making progress, Wally, it's just taking a while."

"Its taking too long! I should be out there, looking-"

"On your own? In Gotham? Tell me, where would you start?"

Robin stared Wally down, challenging him, until the speedster looked away.

"I need to find her, Rob. I _promised._ " He said, his voice a tone calmer and more sincere than before.

"And we will." The other boy promised, his expression kind, lit from the side by the glow of computer screens. "But you need to take a break- when was the last time you slept?"

Wally shrugged. He had not been able to leave Mount Justice under Black Canary's orders, and two weeks of confinement to the cave had left him feeling like a caged animal: stressed, tired and desperate. The daily therapy sessions did not help either, but Wally was determined to masquerade as the mentally compromised victim they assumed him to be until he was able to prove otherwise.

And the otherwise was proving difficult. Rob had managed to scrape together some grainy CCTV of Artemis hanging around the slums of Gotham, but it never led to anything conclusive. To make matters worse, it had been three days since Artemis' face had shown up on any sort of camera. She had completely left the grid, and Wally knew what that meant.

That did not mean he wasn't neck deep in denial.

"Go get some sleep, I'll keep searching." Said Rob, and Wally took a moment to stare at the computer, blink the haze from his eyes, then nod.

As he traipsed from the dark, screen-filled room he and Robin had occupied to his own room in the cave, he passed through the kitchen and sitting room located in the teams' living quarters. Kaldur, M'gann and Conner were sprawled across a sofa watching TV when he passed through, and Wally felt a tiny jolt of appreciation when Kaldur nodded and M'gann beamed at him. He ignored the awkward expression on Conner's face.

The team had warmed back up to him over the last few days, a peace treaty built upon M'gann's cookies, Kaldur not asking what he and Rob were doing half the time, and Conner's general respect of personal privacy. However, since the kitchen incident, Wally's interpersonal relationships with all team members had been more strained than desirable, and Black Canary had been encouraging him to change that.

There was still a long way to go.

Wally's limbs were heavy as he pulled on the door handle to his room, walked in and collapsed on the bed. He wanted the covers to swallow him up, to stop him feeling like he was slowly being suffocated, to get rid of the nagging feeling at the back of his mind that _maybe they were right_.

No.

His tired mind focused on one thought: _Artemis._

Everything would be better if- no, **when** he found her.

They would believe him then.

He could finally live a normal(ish) life again.

The ghost of a smile played across Wally's lips as he considered this, and then he fell asleep.

-o-

"Wally! C'mon, wake up."

Robin's voice, fast and low in his ear, roused Wally in a heartbeat.

"Wha-"

"I've found her. I found Artemis."

Wally sat bolt upright on his bed. He stared at Rob, the sleep rapidly draining from his head, mind racing.

"You mean-"

"Hurry up and get dressed, we're leaving."

Confused, Wally glanced down at the clothes he had slept in.

"Why can't I-"

He received a faceful of spandex in response, clarified only when he saw the colours: yellow and red.

"Ohh. Right."

Rob left with a swish of his cape, and seconds later Wally joined him, tugging at his new costume and itching to _go._

Silently, they made their way to the bioship on the other side of the cave. The pair were careful to remain unseen but it was late and nobody was up; only Red Tornado in the briefing room, tapping at computer files. Eventually they made it to the hangar and Wally followed his friend into the bioship. He was about to ask Rob where they were going, or what the plan was, or _anything,_ but he froze the moment he stepped inside.

The rest of the team- Kaldur, M'gann, Conner- were already seated inside the bioship, staring right back at him.

Wally had just opened his mouth to speak when Robin interjected.

"I told them, Wally. I hope you don't mind, I just thought it would be easier-"

"No, it's fine." He didn't even try to hide his grin. _They were on his side, the team, back together again._ "Thank you, guys. I mean it."

The rest of the team shifted a little in their seats, Conner even looked uncomfortable. It was Kaldur who broke the silence.

"I believe time is of the essence."

"Oh, right- of course."

And with that, M'gann flew the bioship out of the cave as Wally and Robin sat down. The speedster was practically vibrating with anticipation, the first signs of worry creeping in: what if Artemis was hurt, what if she wouldn't come with them, what if she wasn't there at all... It was then that Wally realised he didn't have a clue about what was going on at all. He glanced over at Rob and caught his eye.

"How did you find her?"

The boy wonder smirked.

"It was easy enough, once I figured out how. A couple of nights ago while on patrol I spotted a CCTV camera that had been busted up; someone had taken a shot at it and broken the lens. Only, it hadn't been done by a gun, but an arrow. So I figure that Artemis is shooting out any camera she sees in the hope that it keeps the Shadows off her back for longer, and I set an alert for anytime a camera goes offline in Gotham.

"Of course, this is Gotham we're talking about, crooks take out cameras all the time so it took me a while to go through each individual feed and determine whether or not it was an arrow doing the damage. But I found one, from just a couple of hours ago and it's right outside this apartment complex. I scanned the building through the system, and it turns out there's an abandoned apartment on the third floor, the perfect place to hide. So that's where we're headed."

Rob sat back in his chair, smug. Wally was impressed.

"That's great, but what's with all the stealth mode?"

"Seeing as Artemis was almost certainly being hunted down by the Shadows, there is a chance she has already been captured and this entire set-up is a trap. We must be vigilant." Kaldur explained.

"Okay." Said Wally, switching his suit from yellow and red to black so he matched the others.

The rest of the journey was spent in silence, and Wally tried to ignore the irritating feeling that the others were having a conversation that he was not a part of.

 _Don't be ridiculous,_ he thought. _Why wouldn't they trust you?_

They landed several blocks away from the apartment complex under camouflage. Kaldur's orders were simple: surround the building, check for anything suspicious, then retrieve Artemis as quickly as possible.

Conner used his heat vision and Wally put on his goggles- the room on the third floor had just one heat signature, a small, red blob. It had to be her.

Suddenly, he couldn't hold off any longer. He had to _know._ The telepathic connection broke as he raced ahead, into the building and up two flights of stairs before they could call his name. Door number eighteen- this was it- he didn't waste time knocking or ringing the bell, just powered straight through, the door breaking at the hinges and crashing to the floor. Wally skidded to a halt, his gaze darting across the room, his pulse right behind his eyes, heart in his throat.

And then he saw her. Crouched in the half-light, shadows under troubled eyes, her last arrow resting on a taut bowstring and aimed straight at his heart.

"Artemis?" He asked, tentative, one hand raised in surrender while the other pulled the cowl back from his face.

Her eyes flickered with recognition, then hope. The bow and arrow clattered to the floor.

"West?"

Artemis' voice was small, like it had forgotten hope and Wally found himself careening into her, his arms wrapping tightly around her sides. The only thought running through his mind was to hold her as close to him as possible, in the hope that it would quell any doubts that she wasn't real. With her face buried in his shoulder, Wally felt Artemis' shoulders tremble and realised she was sobbing, her hands grabbing the material on his back and curling into tight fists.

"It's okay, you're safe now." He murmured, smoothing her tangled hair. "Nobody's going to hurt you."  
Artemis pulled away for a moment, her eyes glittering and wet in the darkness.  
"I thought you wouldn't come, I didn't think you cared-"

Wally cupped her cheek with one hand before he even knew he was doing it.

"Of _course_ I care."

And then her face was buried against his shoulder again, and he was muttering something kind under his breath when he heard the creak of floorboards and glanced behind him to see the rest of the team, looking flustered. Artemis stopped sniffling for a moment to look up too, and Wally felt her stiffen against him.

"It's okay, they're friends." He reassured her. "Right, guys?"

"It was unwise of you to run ahead." Said Kaldur, his expression unreadable.

"I'm sorry, but it all worked out okay, right?"'

Nobody replied. Wally turned his attention back to Artemis.

"Let's get out of here. Do you think you can walk?"

Artemis bit her lip. "Leg hurts." She muttered.

"Then I'll help you up." Wally said, pulling one of her arms over his shoulders.

"I'll help too." Offered Robin, and he was on Artemis' other side before either she or Wally could protest. The three of them stood, Artemis somewhat shakily, as Wally felt Conner draw closer. This was strange, the others were being unusually quiet-

" **Now**."

Wally had just enough time to glance over at Kaldur, about to ask what he meant when Conner grabbed him from behind, pulling him away from Artemis and pinning his arms against his sides.

"Hey, what's-"

He looked back at Artemis just in time to see her stumble, Rob holding her up. At the edge of the room M'gann had levitated off the ground, one arm outstretched, her eyes glowing green. Artemis' eyes cut to Wally, she opened her mouth, but no words ever came out. She flinched and cried out at some invisible attacker, then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed against Robin.

"Artemis-"

Wally was fighting against Conner, kicking and shouting as Rob crouched over Artemis and locked something around her neck, he could only just make out what it was- an inhibitor collar.

He felt the blood drain from his face.

" _No_!"

Robin straightened up just as Conner received the order to let Wally go. He fell to his knees by Artemis' side, frantically searching for signs of life. There, in her wrist, the flutter of a heartbeat. Relief washed through him, but it did nothing to dilute the intensity of the glare he fired at the others.

"What. The hell. Was that?" He didn't even try to mask the quiver of rage in his voice.

"That was the condition upon which Batman agreed we could bring Artemis back to the cave." Kaldur replied coolly.

"What?" Wally asked, his voice rising in pitch.

Rob jumped in with an explanation. "The league were in on our search for Artemis. Bats said the only way we could bring her back was like this."

"Like what? In some sort of coma?" Wally was verging dangerously close to hysterical.

Kaldur spoke again. "M'gann merely used a mind-strike to render her unconscious. She will be fine."

"You put a fucking collar on her!"

"She is dangerous."

"She's _hurt_."

Wally's eyes flitted between his team mates, searching for any signs of guilt or compassion. Cold, distant eyes looked back, and he curled his hands into fists.

"So what happens next? We bring her back to the cave, and then what? Send her off to Belle Reve?"

Kaldur frowned. "That is a possibility-"

"Don't you get it? They'll fucking kill her there." Wally stood, defensive, over Artemis. "You can't- I won't- let that happen."

"We can discuss this at the cave." Kaldur's voice was terse. "Superboy, Robin, Miss Martian, take Artemis to the bioship, I would like to have a word with Kid Flash. In private."

The others began to trail out to the room and Wally gritted his teeth, staring Conner down when he tried to approach Artemis.

"Back off, you're not touching her."

In Wally's periphery, Kaldur's face twitched.

"Fine." He muttered, and stalked out of the room. Conner followed.

Wally felt a tiny surge of triumph, but it paled into comparison with the betrayal gnawing at his mind. _How could they?_

He knelt down and gently slid his arms under Artemis' knees and shoulders, pulling her close to his chest, then straightening his legs.

 _Just run for it,_ he thought for a moment. _The others couldn't catch you, Artemis would be safe_... And then he remembered the collar.

With a soft sigh, Wally followed the others to the bioship.

This wasn't how he had imagined bringing her back, limp in his arms, the tension between him and his former friends almost tangible.

 _I'll make this okay_ , he promised Artemis. _I'm sorry, but I can fix this._

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 **Ayyy, I'm back! This chapter felt a little rushed, but I was also dragging it out because y'all complained when I posted the shorter ones? Idk but the usual stuff applies: reviewers, you are my lifeline to sanity, my sun, my moon, my kind and heartfelt stars. I'm gonna be away from the internet for a while *gasp* but I just want to let you know that I read ALL of your reviews- I get excited when I get the little notification emails and I start grinning like an absolute idiot and I read and I sit and I blush for about ten minutes. Seriously. Thank you**.


	16. Déjà Vu

**I was meant to post this last week but stuff happened and I had absolutely zero idea of what I was writing so this took a while. And yeah, it's a pretty short chapter but I want to keep things moving and get the boring hoo-ha out the way. It'll get more exciting, but I thought I would give you all a little bit of watery fluff first.**

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Wally watched as Artemis' shoulders rose and fell in time with her breathing. He had been sitting in the same position for over an hour and bitten his lower lip until it bled. Last night, or rather, earlier that morning, he had carried Artemis into the room at the far end of the team's quarters and placed her on the bed. Kaldur had insisted she be brought to a cell, and his orders had promptly been ignored.

Now it was mid afternoon and Artemis was still unconscious.

Wally had confronted M'gann, who assured him that her mind-strikes lasted little more than twenty minutes or so.

"But she looked tired." She had said, an interesting blend of guilt and concern on her face. "Maybe she's just sleeping?"

The Martian's words had done little to ease Wally's worry.

Almost absent mindedly, he reached out and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. There was a hollowness to her cheeks, and there were whispers of bruises just peeking out from beneath her clothing. Wally realised that he had never seen Artemis asleep before- it was a kind of vulnerability she would have hated him to see.

Just then, she began to stir.

Wally held his breath as Artemis' breathing shifted, her eyelids fluttering, then snapping open. In a flash she was sitting up, one arm already reaching behind her back for a quiver that was not there. A startled cry flitted from her mouth and she looked around, freezing when her hand brushed against the inhibitor collar around her neck.

" _No,"_ she muttered, cold shock settling on her face. "No no no no..."

Artemis trailed off when she caught sight of Wally, his mouth open but no words coming out. Her expression shifted to that of barely controlled rage.

"You have exactly five seconds to tell me what the hell is going on."

Wally couldn't get the words out fast enough.

"Wefoundyoulastnightbuttheybetrayedmeandknockedyouout, you'reattheteamheadquartersbutIwon'tletthemhurtyou, okay?"

Artemis frowned.

"Your friends did this?" It was clear she was having trouble believing him. Wally did not blame her.

"The league said if we brought you back to base it had to be like this, but I swear, I had nothing to do with it. The others didn't tell me what they were going to do, or how the league were involved, I thought they were trying to help." He moved towards her, trying his hardest to look sincere. "I'm sorry it happened like this, I just wanted you to be safe."

Narrowing her eyes, Artemis appeared to weigh up his words in her head.

"And you knew nothing about this?" She asked, tapping at the collar.

"No, I promise, if I had known I would have done something to stop them." Wally glanced at her, then lowered his gaze to the bedsheets. "I'm really sorry, Artemis. They didn't believe me when I told them about you, they thought you were some kind of assassin-"

"And I am."

"-You _were_ , but you're not anymore, right? You didn't kill me, that has to mean something."

Artemis was silent, thoughtful.

"So what now?" She asked, after a few seconds.

Wally looked flustered.

"Well," he started, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're hurt, aren't you, so I brought a first aid kit and I thought that..." He trailed off when he saw the look on Artemis' face.

"What I mean is, what's happening with me? They aren't just going to let me go."

Wally knew where the conversation was headed, and quickly snatched up the first aid kit, opening it up on the side of the bed.

"I don't know what you mean..." He muttered, not meeting her eye.

"West, I've killed people. There's only one place I'll be going."

"No, I can talk to them, you're not what they say you are, Artemis, you saved my life!" He was fumbling with the wrapper on a bandage that had not yet been assigned a purpose.

"You know what will happen when I go to Belle Reve, don't you?"

 _They'd tear her apart,_ Wally thought. _She wouldn't last one minute._

"I won't let them send you there." He said, but even as the words came out his mouth, he knew it was a long shot. "I promise, I'll keep you safe."

Artemis took her gaze away from the sheets and locked it on Wally.

"Don't make promises you can't keep." She muttered, somewhat sadly.

The pair were quiet for about a minute; Artemis a resigned sort of silent, while Wally considered every possible option that could somehow save her.

"Um." Wally broke the silence. "Your leg, you said it was hurt when I found you."

Artemis seemed to be taken aback.

"Oh. Yeah, hang on." She leaned forwards and rolled the material covering her right leg up to her knee.

A thick band of duct tape covered a large portion of her calf, and Wally watched her begin to peel it away, slow and careful.

"It was all I could find." She explained, her focus on removing the tape.

It was the smell that hit Wally first. The pungent, throat-gripping stench of something rotten and evil. He saw swollen, red skin revealed when the first row of tape was peeled away, and fought a gag reflex when Artemis started pulling off the second. She was fighting tears when blood oozed from beneath his fingers, but finally the tape fell away and Wally was left staring, open-mouthed, at Artemis' leg.

It was a mess. At some point, something had hit her at an avenging speed, leaving a mass of raw flesh that was now quite obviously infected.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Got shot." Artemis muttered. "I took the bullet out, tried to patch myself up, but without anything sterile I was bound to get an infection."

Wally saw past her matter-of-fact attitude and realised how much pain she must have been in. "How long has it been like this?"

Artemis shrugged. "Several days... a week, maybe?"

Wally was already sifting though the contents of the first aid kit. He lifted out a bottle of disinfectant and some cotton pads.

"This is going to hurt." He said, soaking the a pad in the honey coloured liquid. "But it'll help."

Artemis nodded, watching as Wally started to dab at her bullet wound, her jaw set. Wally felt her tense up when he applied the slightest amount of pressure, her fists grabbing handfuls of blankets and scrunching them. The disinfectant soaked into the wound and a strangled cry escaped Artemis' throat, her hand suddenly digging into his shoulder.

He continued to clean the hole in her leg with one hand as the other took hers, pulling it off his shoulder and clasping it. Artemis responded by gripping his fingers in a death grip, taking short breaths through her nose. Her hands were cold and clammy.

"I'm done." Said Wally, straightening up and shifting his position on the bed next to Artemis. Their hands remained linked for a couple of seconds, before their eyes met and Artemis snatched hers away a little too quickly. "You okay?"

"...Fine." Artemis muttered. She licked her lips. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," said Wally, taking out a square of gauze and laying it over the wound. "Y'know, I'm getting the weirdest déjà vu feeling right now."

A smile briefly graced Artemis' lips. "Yeah, only this time it's you stitching me back together and not the other way round."

Wally began to bandage the wound on Artemis' leg, and was just tying off when he felt something brush against his neck, tugging at the material of his uniform. He glanced down to see Artemis, running a finger along the jagged scar on his shoulder where Sportsmaster had slashed him with a knife. It seemed so long ago.

"It's healed." Artemis murmured.

"Yeah." Said Wally, who frantically searched for something meaningful to say. "Yeah, it's, uh, fine now... Yup." He winced internally and felt the back of his neck grow hot. "So, is there anything else you want me to look at?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow just as Wally realised what he had said.

 _Shit._

"Medically speaking, I mean- not... not in a weird way, I just-" Wally stumbled over his words as he rubbed his neck furiously. "What I meant is, is there anywhere- can I... Do you need-"

"I think I'll manage." Said Artemis. Wally wasn't looking at her but he could sense the humour in her voice.

"Okay." Wally mumbled, turning away and hoping his ears weren't as red as they felt. "Um, I should get going, the others said I needed to talk to them when you woke up, and you've woken up, so..."

"Wait."

Wally turned back to Artemis, expecting her to smirk and then swiftly take him down with a backhanded comment.

She didn't.

"What?" He asked.

"Can you just move a little closer... Okay."

Artemis seemed to hesitate, her body in reaching distance of his. And then she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, her head hooked over his shoulder. It took Wally an extra couple of seconds before he thought to reciprocate.

"Thank you." Artemis' mouth was right by his ear. "I mean it. Thank you."

She pulled away, leaving Wally at loss for words.

"You should probably go."

Awkwardly, Wally got up and backed towards the door.

"Uh, yeah, sure... I'll bring you food, okay? You should probably have a shower, the bathroom's through that door- not that you smell, you're just... kinda..." He saw Artemis' expression and gulped. "I'm gonna go now."

He pulled open the door and stepped into the hallway. Something twisted inside Wally when he heard the door click shut, then lock.

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 **I've got half the next chapter typed up already, but don't expect it for a while because I'm going back to school this week and I didn't think this fic would be so long, but here we are. Again, to all the lovely reviewers: you are a shining light in my life and I would not be here without you. Thank you for your words of support, my kind cinnamon rolls.**


	17. Uncertainty

**WOOOP, IM BAAAACK! So sorry it took me so long to upload, but with school and my job and my brownie baking empire, it's been difficult to find the time (and let's be serious, the patience) to sit down and get this all written out. BUT HERE IT IS, and while not that much happens I guess this is all just set up for the next chapter, which you'll probably have to wait a while for. (Sorry)**

Wally turned away from the door to Artemis' room, so deep in thought he almost walked right into the person standing in the middle of the hallway, dressed in red and gold.

"Kid."

Immediately, Wally was backing up, making sure he was between the man- who Wally now recognised as his uncle Barry- and the door.

"You're not going anywhere near her, I won't let you."

"Wally, it's fine." Barry pulled the cowl from his face, looking apologetic. "I just want to talk."

Wally was silent, and Barry took it as a cue to continue speaking.

"I know things have been... tough, recently, but all I wanted to say was..." He shuffled on the spot, then sighed. "I've been a bad mentor and a crappy uncle, and I'm sorry. None of us were sure, when we got you back, if you'd be different or not. If you'd changed. And when you woke up and started asking for some strange girl, I panicked. You needed understanding, and I didn't give that to you. And I'm sorry, kid, I really am." Barry reached out and placed his hand on Wally's shoulder. "I just want you to know, I've got your back- whether you want me to or not."

Words took a while to come to Wally and he stared at his uncle with wide eyes.

"So you believe me?" He asked, half sure he was making it all up inside his head.

"Do I believe that that girl risked her own life to save my nephew's? Yes. I do, of course I do, kid, and I won't ever stop being grateful because of it."

The pair fell into a bear hug, Wally desperately trying to his his shaking lower lip, Barry craving the sense of retribution.

"It feels like you're the only person who cares." He mumbled.

"Hey, I know you're still stinging from what the others did, don't be so hard on them. They did what they could to help, all they ever wanted was for you to be okay." Barry did not speak for a moment, his hand making thoughtful circles between Wally's shoulders. "When you were... taken, the team took it badly. We all did. They only left the cave to search for you, I caught Robin sleeping in front of computer screens more times than I can count, nobody spoke, there was just silence. I think that they were counting on you jumping out of bed and cracking a joke as soon as they got you back, but life doesn't work that way."

Barry let go of Wally and they drifted apart.

"Are you okay?" The man in red asked his protégé.

Wally nodded, then stopped.

"What's going to happen to Artemis?" He asked, glancing at the door to her room, or rather, cell.

Barry's forehead creased. "I think Batman wants to make it a league decision. I don't want her to be locked away any more than you do, and I'll do what I can. Try to be rational, Wally, throwing kitchen utensils won't help her."

"There's got to be something else you can do- you know what will happen if she ends up at Belle Reve." Wally's voice was quiet, but the feeling behind his words was raw.

"I said I'll do what I can, kid. I promise."

Wally chewed on his lower lip and nodded. "Okay."

"They're waiting in the mission room." Said Barry, giving Wally a slight push. "You'd better go."

With one final glance at his mentor, Wally was gone, a red and black streak through the cave.

He had reached the mission room in seconds.

"You're not sending her to Belle Reve." Were Wally's first words as he breezed in, marching straight for the small group of people in the centre of the room. The team was there, along with Batman and Black Canary, who had been talking amongst themselves until the speedster arrived.

Batman looked him up and down and Wally instantly felt one tenth his size.

"Incarceration is one of many possible options we are considering. Artemis' behaviour over the next few days will determine whether she goes, or whether we make... alternative arrangements."

"What do you mean?" Probed Wally.

"If Artemis is who you say she is, the League will provide protection from the Shadows." Kaldur interjected, his tone as cool as his demeanour. "But if she isn't..."

"Then Belle Reve is the only viable option." Batman finished.

"But she defected, she's not a Shadow anymore- isn't that enough proof she's on our side?" Wally asked.

"Or it's part of a plot to infiltrate the team." Said Batman. "Tomorrow I will interrogate Artemis, while Miss Martian uses her telepathy to gauge where her allegiance lies. I'm sure Black Canary would also like to make her own assessment."

 _Telepathy_... Wally felt relief surge through him. That was all the proof he would need, once M'gann saw for herself what the pair of them had been through, what Artemis had done for him, there was no way the League could prosecute. He just wasn't so sure about the term 'interrogate'.

Wally's gaze flitted across the teams' faces, deep in thought. None of them looked at him.

"Fine." He said. "But at least take the stupid collar off her, it's not necessary."

"The matter has been discussed and the team agreed that it was fair, given the circumstances." Batman replied.

"What circumstances?" Wally struggled to control the volume at which he spoke.

"Whether or not she is now, Artemis was an assassin, Wally." It wasn't Batman speaking now, it was Robin. "That's a very specific skill set, and it doesn't make somebody particularly trustworthy."

Wally shot a glare at him. "Trustworthy?" He scoffed. "That's rich, coming from the guy who double-crossed his best friend, right after leaving him to _rot_ for three months."

Across the room Dick dropped his head, shoulders slumping with shame.

Wally almost felt bad.

"If that's it, then I'm going back to look after Artemis." He said, already backing towards the door.

Nobody spoke, and Wally took it as his cue to leave. The doors had just swung shut behind him when a small voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Wally?"

He spun round to see M'gann, her face half hidden by a curtain of hair, her hands clasped close to her chest, fidgeting. Hovering inches from the ground, she was painted with uncertainty.

"I was just wondering... I made some cookies earlier, could you take some to Artemis?"

Wally's mouth opened, but he didn't say anything. Already, M'gann faltered.

"Sorry, that was stupid." She turned away, muttering; half to herself, half to him. "Of course she won't want any, she probably hates me... stupid, stupid-"

"No, no, that's a good idea." Wally interrupted. "I don't think Artemis has eaten in a while..." he glanced at M'gann, settling for a reassuring tone, "So she'll appreciate it, I'm sure."

The Martian almost glowed with pride.

"Great!" Then M'gann seemed to remember something, and her grin faded. "Listen, Wally... about this thing with Artemis tomorrow- you know how I feel about going inside people's heads uninvited..."

"No, you've got to, it's the only way they'll believe us." Wally urged, gripping her shoulders. "I'll talk to Artemis and it'll be fine."

M'gann pursed her lips and shrugged him off. "I just... Whatever I find, Wally, I just want you to know- I believe you."

It was a few seconds before Wally was able to reply.

"Thanks. Seriously, it means a lot."

She was beaming again, but when M'gann started to speak, Wally cut her off.

"The others, they're-"

"I don't want to talk about the others, M'gann."

"But Rob-"

"I don't care! They made their own choices, and I've made mine."

An awkward hush fell across the pair as they made their way to the kitchen. The warmth of chocolate chips hit Wally's nose like the scent of home. He had grabbed a plate and was loading it up with cookies in a heartbeat.

"They're good," he called to M'gann, but she was nowhere to be seen. Wally felt a twinge of guilt, perhaps he had been too blunt with her.

He had stacked about two dozen cookies on the plate when M'gann rematerialised, a bundle of clothes in her arms.

"For Artemis," she muttered, her head bowed. "I'm not sure if they'll fit, but she seems about the same size as me."

"Thanks." Said Wally as he took them from her, placed the plate of cookies on top and, almost as an afterthought, grabbed a carton of orange juice from the fridge.

"Um, Wally." M'gann muttered, and he turned back to face her. "Tell her I'm sorry. About... everything."

Wally nodded, then, not knowing what else to say, he sped out of the kitchen, supplies in his arms.

"It's me." He called, pushing open the door to Artemis' room after it unlocked.

There she was, sitting on the edge of the bed where he had left her, only now she was prying at the inhibitor collar around her neck.

"Hey, stop- they might use that thing if they think you're messing with it!" Wally dropped the clothes and food on the bed and rushed to pull Artemis' hands away. "Let- go!"

Artemis snarled, but released her grip. "Can't you get them to take it off?" She asked.

"I've already tried, but they won't budge."

Wally followed Artemis' line of sight, to the plate of cookies.

"What's that?"

"Oh, I brought you some food, I thought you might be hungry."

Artemis had already snatched up the plate and fallen upon the cookies, her mouth full, eyes closed in rapture. Slowly, she exhaled through her nose.

"Are they okay?" Wally ventured.

Her eyes snapping open, Artemis nodded furiously. After catching sight of the juice, she grabbed the carton and took a great swig, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand then devouring more cookies. Wally wondered if this was anything close to watching himself eat.

"So, I talked to the others about what's going to happen."

Artemis showed only the subtlest signs she was paying any attention.

"Batman and Black Canary want to ask you a few questions."

"When?" Asked Artemis, spraying crumbs.

"Tomorrow."

She took another bite and nodded while chewing. "'Kay."

"And... they want M'ga- um, Miss Martian to use her telepathy, to check if you're lying or not."

Artemis froze.

"What?"

Wally was quick to respond. "It's okay, it's not what you think- she won't hurt you or dig around, she just needs to know what happened while I was... with you. That's good, right? They've got to believe us when she tells them we're on the same side."

Artemis suddenly looked very serious, her brows knitted together.

"No." She said, swallowing the last of the cookies. "Because we didn't always get along, remember?" Her hand reached up and she jabbed at the inhibitor collar. "Don't forget that you were wearing one of these, not too long ago, and don't forget that I _fucking shocked you until you were twitching on the ground_ , _okay?"_ Panic took control and Artemis let out a noise of pure frustration, her hands nesting in her hair. "No, nonono.." She murmured.

"Hey." Wally shuffled closer and rested a hand on her forearm. "It's fine, they'll see everything else, too: you still patched me up and saved my life- they'll know about how you sent that distress signal to the League."

Artemis lifted her head away from her hands. "You know about that?"

"Of course I do." Said Wally. "Trust me, Artemis, everything will be fine."

She seemed to relax under his touch, if only a little.

"What if they see what I did to you and decide it's not worth it?"

"Then I'll... I'll quit the team and help you escape and we can just... hide somewhere." Wally finished lamely.

Artemis snorted and nearly choked on her orange juice.

"I hope you're not the one who comes up with plans around here." She said, taking another gulp of juice. "Because that one sucks."

"Its better than your escape plan, remember?" Wally switched his expression to something sober and cold, raising the pitch of his voice to imitate her. "Let's just turn the lights out and run away; if things start to look really bad, we can always _blow everything up_."

Artemis was not impressed. "At least that plan actually worked. And I don't sound anything like that."

Wally grinned, and flicked his head as if tossing an imaginary ponytail.

"Uh, my name's Artemis and my hobbies include frowning, swearing and shooting arrows at inanimate objects. I feed on other people's disappointment and- Aaargh!"

At that moment, Artemis had stretched out her good leg and shoved Wally off the side of the bed. He hit the carpeted floor with an 'Ooof' sound and Artemis began to laugh, loud and completely carefree. From the floor, Wally giggled too, reaching up to grip her ankle and before she could react, pulling down, hard. Artemis fell to the floor with a yelp and Wally's laughter bordered on hysterical.

"That was my bad leg, you idiot." Grunted Artemis, giving Wally another shove. He wiped the tears from his eyes with one hand, and used the other to push himself up so he was sitting.

"Sorry." Wally mumbled, before a foot planted itself squarely on his chest and forced him onto his back.

There was the sound of Artemis' laughter again, and when Wally looked up, she had pulled herself onto the bed and was staring at the pile of clothes.

"What's this?"

"Oh, those belong to Miss M, she thought you might want some new clothes, and that those might fit."

"She's the green one, right?" Asked Artemis, unfolding a sweater that was a similar colour to M'gann's natural skin tone.

"Uh, yeah." Said Wally. "Martian is the more politically correct way of putting it, though."

"She's the one that knocked me out?"

"...yes."

"She's the one that's going to read my mind?"

"Also yes."

"Riiight

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 **That'll probably be it for a while, my holiday only lasts a week and I'm still working, so idk if I'll get any more done but hey, things will get a lot more interesting from here on out :D AND AS ALWAYS, A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS, YOU ARE THE SHINING LIGHTS IN THIS DARK, UNFORGIVING WORLD AND I LOVE YOU ALL.**


	18. Interrogation

**I'll just jump to it.**

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The next morning, Artemis was escorted out of her room by Kaldur and Robin, Wally walking right beside her. Sensing her nerves, he squeezed her hand- the other two had wanted to handcuff Artemis to ensure she did not try anything and it had taken half an hour for Wally to persuade them otherwise. Her head whipped round and she looked at him with wary eyes.

"It's going to be alright." Wally reassured.

Artemis remained unconvinced. She had been tense the whole morning; the heaped plate of breakfast food Wally brought her had barely been touched, Artemis had resorted to shifting the food around with a fork and fidgeting.

The four stopped outside the interrogation room, tension heavy in the air.

"Inside." Said Kaldur, motioning for Artemis to enter. She hesitated and Wally caught her arm, turning her to face him, earning a glare from the Atlantean.

"Just tell them the truth, okay? You've got nothing to hide." Said Wally earnestly. He glanced at Kaldur's impatient expression and let go of Artemis' arm. "I'll be watching, don't worry."

Wally watched as Artemis was led through the door, then followed Rob further down the hall into the next room. A glass pane was set into one wall that looked into the bare, cell-like space Artemis had just walked into. In the centre of the room was a simple, metal framed chair. Artemis stared at it, then at the figure that had just materialised in the corner. Even on the other side of the glass, Wally felt Batman's presence. The man was intimidating when they were on the same side, he could not imagine what Artemis was feeling.

Instinctively, he raised one hand to the glass to try to get her attention.

"One-way. She can't see you."

Wally turned to see Kaldur close the door behind him, M'gann and Conner standing with Rob. M'gann opened her mouth, as if to say something, but Wally fixed his attention back on the room through the glass in time to hear the caped crusader's first words.

"Sit."

Artemis licked her lips.

"...I'd rather stand." Though her voice was deceptively calm, Wally could see the violent shaking of her hands. She wanted to run, he could tell, she wanted to run and run and never stop.

"And I'd rather you sat."

Artemis looked at Batman, then the chair, then back at Batman. She sat down.

"Your name is Artemis Crock, correct?"

"Y-yes."

"Daughter of Lawrence Crock and Paula Nguyen-Crock?"

"Yes."

"Also known as Sportsmaster and Huntress?"

"Yes, but-"

"And your sister is Jade Nguyen, or Cheshire?

"Yes, and I know what is must look like, but-"

Artemis faltered and fell silent after receiving a stern glance. Behind her, Batman began to pace.

"Do you know what the minimum prison sentence is, for a first degree murder count as high as yours?"

Nothing came out of Artemis mouth. Her shoulders hitched, then slumped as she stared at the concrete floor.

"Life."

Anger sparked in Wally and he spun round to address the others.

"What does he think he's doing?" He asked, directing the question towards Rob. The boy shuffled awkwardly on his feet, not replying. Wally grimaced and turned back to the glass.

"How long have you been working for the League of Shadows?"

"I... Well, since I was a kid- dad trained me to do all his dirty work."

"And you complied."

"Yes, I did, but I-"

"Were you ever coerced into committing a crime?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did your father ever use threats to get you to comply with what he wanted?"

Artemis paused, her eyes flitting across the floor.

"No."

"So everything you have done over the past five years was of your own free will?"

"No!" She cried, and Wally tensed; they were asking all the wrong questions, this was not how it was supposed to go-

"Did Lawrence Crock ever threaten you?" Batman sounded slightly irked.

"He never had to!"

Silence. Artemis took it as a sign to elaborate.

"After Jade left, he went a bit control-freak. Every time I messed up, no matter how small, he would let me know about it. First it was just extra training sessions, then these tests where he'd leave me in the middle of nowhere and see how long I could survive. Sometimes he'd just beat me. Threats were never a thing he did, all he had to do was punish me one time."

Wally heard M'gann gasp behind him, though he did not turn as his focus was on Artemis. She was holding back tears, but if she was hoping for sympathy, she did not receive any. Batman did not even break stride before firing the next question.

"Why didn't you leave, like your sister did?"

Artemis was quiet for a very long time. Her fingers scratched at her arm under a green sweater sleeve, her heel drummed against the floor. Then, with a softer than soft voice, she replied:

"Because I was afraid."

"Afraid of the consequences with your father?"

"No... I was afraid of becoming like my sister. She escaped my dad, but never the life. I was worried that if I left too, I'd have no choice but to carry on doing what I hated. I was afraid... I was afraid I would learn to enjoy it."

"When did you first come into contact with Kid Flash?"

"I was assigned to watch him, at the base."

"For what reason?"

"I mucked up a mission, I didn't fire at a target when I should have."

"You mean you spared someone?"

"Yeah..." This subject seemed to make Artemis happier, and she straightened up in her chair as she spoke. "I hadn't really planned it, I just... decided not to shoot. Dad was furious, so had me on prisoner duty for a while."

"And what did your duties with Kid Flash entail?"

"I had to bring him food and take him to the bathroom twice a day. Sometimes the guards took him to be... interrogated, and I would patch him up when he came back."

"You administered first aid to a prisoner of the Shadows, despite knowing that such behaviour could incur disciplinary action?"

Artemis' confidence grew with every question. She squared her shoulders and replied, proud. "Yes. I did."

"About how much time did you spend with Kid Flash during this period?"

"Maybe nine, ten hours a day."

"And you were always amicable?"

Wally deflated. This was it, this was when they all found out.

"...no." Artemis knew it too, she was back to staring at the floor. "At the beginning, we fought. A lot."

"Physically?"

"Some of the time, yeah." Her voice had ebbed, so quiet and full of shame that Wally had to strain to pick out the words.

"Were these episodes provoked, or did you attack Kid Flash without reason?"

"I never hit him for the sake of it, if that's what you mean. If he got hurt, it was because he tried to run, or he hit me first." Artemis was struggling to defend herself- any time she made an excuse, Batman would disarm her argument with ease.

"It is my understanding that Kid Flash was fitted with an inhibitor collar during his stay, correct?"

"...yes." Artemis' tone was guarded, she knew where this was going.

"And the collar was equipped with a remote that activated the shock capabilities of the collar, correct?"

"Yes."

"Were you given access to such a device?"

"Yes."

"Did you use it?"

The tension in the air was spread taut. Wally felt Rob and the others holding their breath as one. They would not like this, they would not like it at all.

"I did."

"On how many occasions did you use the shock remote on Kid Flash?"

Artemis bit her lower lip, then swallowed. Her eyes closed and she sighed, taking in the hopelessness of her situation, how little they would trust her after she admitted to repeatedly torturing their teammate, their friend.

"Twice," she mumbled. "I shocked him twice."

Wally heard murmuring behind him but he did not turn around, his hand creeping to his neck to trace the burn marks there. Through the glass, Artemis sat, defeated.

Batman continued.

"Do you feel that your actions were justified-"

"It was a mistake, I know."

Silence fell. Artemis seemed to realise her mistake in interrupting a member of the Justice League and wavered. She closed her eyes and breathed in, then out. Wally watched her scrape up the last of her courage and hold fast to it.

"Listen, I know what I've done, and if you don't think I feel fucking awful about all of it then you're wrong. But I'm not here for redemption, or sanctuary; I'm here because you brought me here, and if all you're gonna do is take me on a fucking guilt trip then you can just send me to Belle Reve and be done with me, alright? Because this was not my choice. None of this."

Her outburst over, Artemis slumped back down in her chair and crossed her arms. For a long while, nobody said anything. Then Batman spoke.

"That will be all."

He strode out of the door and disappeared. Wally let out a breath he did not know he had been holding, and without acknowledging the others, raced through the door to Artemis.

"Hey." He was not sure what else to say.

"I'm sorry." Mumbled Artemis, lifting her gaze to meet his. "I freaked out, I shouldn't have-"

"Artemis, don't worry, you did fine." Wally winced at the lie and hoped Artemis had not seen.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he blabbed on.

"Bats is just one person and he doesn't really like anybody anyway. You're seeing Black Canary next, and she's usually much nicer."

Wally helped Artemis stand up, too long without moving her injured leg had made it stiff, and she had to lean on him as they walked to the room Black Canary had chosen for her assessment of Artemis. The rest of the team trailed behind.

"Here we are." Said Wally when they got to the door. "Are you gonna be okay walking in by yourself?"

"You're not coming with me?" Asked Artemis.

Wally shook his head. "She doesn't want me to pressure you to answer her questions differently. And you won't be alone, M'gann's going in with you."

"To scan my brain."

"To make sure you're telling the truth." Wally corrected. "Trust me, it'll be just fine."

Artemis muttered something under her breath, twisted the door handle and limped inside. M'gann followed her inside, and the door swung shut behind them. Wally stared at it for a long moment, then backed out into the team's sitting room. There, Wally sat and wondered what he would do to distract himself for the next hour.

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 **Okay. I'm sorry I wasn't able to update this sooner- usually I write half a chapter ahead and then I've got something to add to and it's easier but I completely lost all motivation this time round, I just stared at the page for hours and ugh it was so frustrating but here you go! Next chapter will probably be a long wait too, but I'll try to have something ready by the end of January. Again, thanks to all those lovely lovely cinnamon rolls who review, you helped me to get this chapter out and not give up, so thank you thank you thank you! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!**


	19. Judge, Jury and Executioner

Time had passed with the consistency of thick treacle and Wally found himself staring at the clock on the wall, willing the hands to tick at a pace that was not so frustratingly slow. Kaldur and Conner had disappeared at some point in the past hour and Rob was sat at the other end of the room. Every few minutes Wally would catch him staring, then glance away quickly. He fidgeted, crossing and uncrossing his legs on the chair before getting up and pacing around.

What if Black Canary heard what Artemis had to say and still was not convinced? What if Batman didn't see her as a victim and refused to offer protection? What if Artemis was sent to Belle Reve, what if the team never truly accepted him again, what if what if what if-

 _I'd leave_ , Wally thought. _I'd take Artemis with me and we could run away together, keep her away from the Shadows and the Justice League..._ But then what?

It was the inevitable question. Where would they stay, how would they cope, on their own, on the run. They would maybe last a week or two before being tracked down, by either the JLA or the shadows.

Wally dragged a hand through his hair, sighed, then sat back down. His eyes flitted from the clock to the door, behind which Artemis was desperately trying to justify her actions.

She had been so brave, standing her ground when she had been interrogated by Batman, it would have been easy to see Black Canary as the lesser of two evils. But Wally knew how she worked, he knew how good she was at wrangling the truth from people, no matter how good at keeping secrets they were. But as far as he knew, Artemis had no more secrets left to tell.

"Why do you care about her so much?"

The words shocked Wally out of his train of thought and he jumped, looking around the room for the speaker. His eyes rested on Rob, gazing back at him with curiosity.

Wally brushed him off. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

They stared each other down for a few seconds, then Wally relented.

"She was kind to me. She didn't have to be, and it got her in trouble, but she did it anyway. So... I guess I feel like I owe her this, at least. She's had a really awful life and just I want to help make it better."

"She said she hurt you."

Wally paused, his brow creasing at the memories of being kicked and punched and shocked until he was a twitching mess on the floor.

"Yeah." He nodded and opened his mouth like he was about to say more, then closed it again.

"And you still want the League to take her in?"

"You want her to die?"

"I want my best friend back."

The words hit Wally like a punch to the gut. It was a cheap shot, they both knew that, but it hurt to hear it out loud. He decided not to take the bait, sitting on his hands so Rob could not see them curl into fists.

"I don't need this right now. If you still want the old me, you're chasing ghosts. Things have changed, Dick, you need to accept that. And you need to accept her."

Behind his sunglasses, the boy wonder frowned.

"She's a shadow."

" _Was_ a shadow. Not by choice. You think this was easy for her, talking about her past like this? You think she _chose_ to kill people, that she _enjoyed_ it?"

"No, but-"

"Then just give her a fucking chance, okay? She's scared, you've got no idea what she's been through or how she feels, so just shut up."

Wally finished his tirade and leaned back against his chair, chewing the inside of his cheek. Had he gone too far? He wanted to see Rob's expression but he didn't dare look up. Silence filled the space inside the room.

Then, just as Wally could not bear waiting any longer, the door opened. He was standing up within a heartbeat, ready to rush up to Artemis, ready to hold her close and tell her that whatever happened, she was going to be okay. Artemis emerged from the interview room, her head down, her eyes looking like tears had left them. She marched past Wally, moving towards the door at the opposite end of the room and only stopping when M'gann flew out of the same room and called her name:

"Artemis, wait!"

The archer stopped, then turned, too late to avoid M'gann who rushed up to Artemis and wrapped her arms around her. Not sure quite what to do, Artemis froze, her arms hovering, unsure, by her sides. Then she seemed to relent and hugged the Martian back, her eyes tightly closed.

"...Thank you." Wally thought he heard her murmur.

The two girls broke apart and Wally approached Artemis.

"How'd it go?" He asked, but at that moment Black Canary appeared in the doorway and everyone was quiet.

"I'm going to speak to Batman now. We may be some time." She nodded at Wally and Rob, then left the room.

Wally turned back to Artemis.

"Was it okay?"

She shrugged. "I... I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Wally grabbed her shoulders, making her look at him. "Either she believed you or she didn't, I don't see how-"

He cut himself off after seeing how tired Artemis looked, the way she leaned into him like every fibre of her was exhausted. Wally softened.

"We'll go back to the room and wait there."

Artemis had walked the whole way in silence, and now stared blankly into space as Wally tried to think of something to say.

"Are you okay?" He blurted, cringing at how loud he sounded.

Artemis just nodded.

"How was Black Canary? She wasn't too hard on you, was she?"

"Black Canary was... nice."

Wally frowned at Artemis' choice of words. "Nice?"

Artemis shrugged. "I think she understood, I think she gets why I did what I did. I just..." She paused, then let out all her air in one sigh. "I don't know what's going to happen, it's all one big mess, and Batman-"

"Don't even worry about him." Said Wally. "The guy dresses like a bat for a living. You got through to me, and that's got to count for something, right?"

Artemis snorted through her nose, and for a second Wally thought she was about to laugh. Then her face changed, her eyes clouded and Artemis ducked her head, covering her face with her hands.

"Hey, hey- don't do that, please don't cry-" Wally rushed to her side, arms wrapping around her. He felt her body shudder beneath his, her face pushing into his shoulder. "Whatever happens, I'm on your side, okay? Remember that."

They stayed like that for several minutes, Artemis softly crying while Wally tried his best to soothe her, one shaky hand smoothing her hair, the other tracing circles on her back.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Wally felt Artemis tense against him but neither of them moved as the door swung open to reveal M'gann.

"Um, Black Canary says they've finished discussing everything, they want everyone in the mission room." Her brow creased when she saw the two of them together, limbs tangled, Artemis' face hidden. "Artemis?"

Wally let go of the archer, waiting for her to shoo the Martian away or make some disgruntled comment, but Artemis said nothing. Her eyes flitted to his, dried by one of her shirt sleeves, and her expression shifted from hopelessness to cold steel in one second. She turned to face M'gann.

"Tell them we're coming."

M'gann nodded, and seemed to hover in the air for a moment, uncertain, before taking off back down the hallway.

Artemis looked back at Wally, an almost perfect image of confidence. Almost. Wally could read the fear behind her eyes and in that moment knew just how afraid she was.

"Let's go." He said.

They were the last to enter the mission room, the rest of the team already assembled in a group facing Black Canary and Batman. All heads turned to face Wally and Artemis as they walked in, Wally particularly uncomfortable under the heat of their combined gaze. They stopped near the centre of the room, wally standing directly between Artemis and his team. He stole a glance sideways and caught Rob looking right at him. Probably. It was hard to tell with the sunglasses.

"I'm sorry to keep you all waiting, but the two of us have reached a decision." Black Canary told the group. The air was heavy with anticipation. "Artemis, we have decided-"

"That you are too dangerous to be left without supervision." Batman stated. "The League cannot let trained assassins run amok, whether or not they seem to redeem themselves."

Beside him, Wally felt Artemis sink, her shoulders slumping.

"But we do not think you deserve to go to Belle Reve, Artemis." Said Black Canary. "Batman and I have decided to offer you a place on the team, where you can use your skills for good."

Wally was taken aback, he heard M'gann squeal somewhere to his right, he saw Conner raise his eyebrows while Rob and Kaldur exchanged looks. Next to him, Artemis stared at Black Canary with wide-eyed wonderment, frozen in disbelief.

"What do you say, Artemis?" Asked Black Canary, smiling at the girl stood next to Wally with her mouth tipped open. "Are you in?"

The rest of the team murmured amongst themselves, but Wally didn't care. He took her hand at the same time as she grabbed his, and they shared a grin.

"Yes," Artemis said, her voice filling the room. "I'm in."

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 **wOAH, that took me one hell of a long time to write. I am very sorry to all of you that it took me so long to update, and if I had one specific excuse I would tell you but I don't, I'm just sorry.**

 **First thing, you guys have all been great. Better than great, really, I wouldn't have finished this without your kind words, so thank you so so much! You are gorgeous cinnamon rolls and I don't know what I would have done without you.**

 **Second thing- I'm planning on writing a companion piece to this one, noting how well it has been received. There are two options: I can write about what the team got up to while Wally was with the shadows, or I can write a sequel, where we continue on with the story and look at how Arty copes with the others and missions etc (very spitfire). Please let me know what you want, but I'm not going to start immediately, this would be more of a post-exam summer project.**

 **Again, thank you all so much!**


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